A Girl Like You (Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series Book #1) by Michelle Cox

A Ring of Truth Review - HERE!
A Promise Given Review HERE!
A Veil Removed Review - HERE!
A Child Lost Review - HERE!
A Spying Eye Review - coming soon
Synopsis -

Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall—and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead. When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him—and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe—even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most unsuitable ways.

Review - 

I ended up reading book #5 in the Henrietta and Inspector Howard Series first and enjoyed it, so headed back to the beginning to check out books #1 through #4.  A Girl Like You has a mystery to work through, but this book also takes the time to introduce readers to the two main characters - Henrietta and Clive. Who are they? How did they live?  What was their family life like?  How did they meet? All the answers are found here.

The story's pace picks up when Clive meets Henrietta and asks her to go undercover at the Marlowe, a low-brow burlesque hall with mob connections.  Two girls who worked there have disappeared and the police know something illegal is going on, but can't get a handle on  it.  Lurking in the club's shadows is an illusive master criminal Clive would love to put behind bars. Henrietta dives into the role, putting herself in great danger as she starts to unwind the mystery and find the truth of what is happening at the club. Can Clive keep her safe as he promised, or will she become victim #3? 

Cox does a great job of making this time and place, as well as the characters that inhabit it, come alive.  And there are a few twists that surprised me, as well as the element of danger that lurked in the shadows right to the very end of the book.  

Note - this was my first audio book not read by single person like an author reading, so it took awhile to get used to the actor creating voices for the different characters. It does help separate who is talking, but as I read book #5 in print first, I had an idea in my head already of what those characters would sound like. It took awhile to shift.  So I would recommend sticking with just one format when enjoying a fiction series. 

Buy the Book: Audible ~ Amazon.com ~ Chirp ~ Apple ~ Kobo ~ Google Store ~ add to Goodreads

Meet the Author - 
Read my last author interview with Cox HERE!

Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. She suspects she may have once lived in the 1930s and, having yet to discover a handy time machine lying around, has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there. Coincidentally, her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and many others, so she might be on to something. Unbeknownst to most, Michelle hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also marmalade. 

Connect with the Author: website ~ facebook ~twitter ~ instagram ~ goodreads

Meet the Narrator - 

Jayne Entwistle was born in the North of England and lived in a myriad of places (Vancouver, San Francisco, Tucson, Sequim, Seattle) before landing in Los Angeles. She is an avid improviser who hitched her space-work wagon to Patrick Bristow’s company, Improvatorium, where she studied, taught, directed and performed improv. She is an award-winning audiobook narrator best known for her narration of the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley. She also received the 2015 Odyssey Honour Award for The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry and the 2016 Odyssey Award for, The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. When not inhaling books for work or pleasure, Jayne works in film, television and commercials. The biggest star she has ever worked with is Shaquille O’Neal. He is quite literally THE biggest star she has ever worked with. Ever. He’s really big!

Comments

  1. Thanks so much, Marilyn!! I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the audio version of A Girl Like You! Cheers!

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