BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB comes out this Thursday 16 February! 

There isn’t much that beer and blackmail can’t fix, right? 

The year is 1926, Prohibition is in full swing, and bootlegger Benny Rotolo is determined to build a beer empire in upstate New York to rival Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit.

This time Benny has a new plan to seize the Galliano Club, a hub for Italian mill workers, and turn it into his signature speakeasy. He’ll blackmail the owner until forced to sell.

Benny’s got nerve all right, but he hasn’t chosen his partners all that well . . . Plus, he still has to contend with the Galliano Club’s stubborn bartender, Luca Lombardo, whose own secrets haunt him.

As many of you know, the fictional city of Lido is based on my hometown of Rome, New York. As you might guess from the name, this part of upstate New York has a large Italian community. Many, like my great-grandparents, came from Calabria in southern Italy.

While researching the Italian immigrant experience, I unearthed a double murder on the night of my grandparents’ wedding reception that took the lives of two of their guests, and “met” a great-grandfather who killed two people in 1912 in Hartford, Connecticut and escaped a manhunt, never to be seen again. 

I also discovered a movement dedicated to preserving and celebrating Italian heritage. Here are 3 organizations that do it with style:

Italian Enclaves: The first ever pictorial catalogue of every Italian neighborhood and Italian national parish in the US. Rome is listed, of course. There is even a photo of the original Galliano Club. Instagram: @italianenclaves

America Domani: Polished blog with long-form posts on contemporary Italian-American events, places, and cultural ephemera. Instagram: @americadomani

Italian-American Podcast: A weekly dose of Italian-American heritage, history and humor. Instagram: @italianamerican

In unsettled times, family, heritage and fast-disappearing traditions feel more important than ever.

Whatever your background, I hope you find connections and community that give you both wings and roots. 

While you wait for BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB on Thursday, check out the latest from friends at StoryOrigin:

A BLAZE OF POPPIES by Jennifer Bohnhoff

In 1916, Mexico is on the brink of revolution. Despite armed bandits streaming over the border and prejudices against female ranchers, feisty little Agnes Day is determined to keep the family ranch and run it on her own terms.

THE CAPTAIN’S STORY by Colin Scales

At the age of thirty-three, Commander Mike Mansfield is the youngest ever `Captain` in the Royal Navy. His first command is the type 42 destroyer, HMS Devonport.

The GUNSLINGER MATTHEW SLADE Box Set 1: Books 1-4 by Sugar Lee Ryder

The open prairies and gas-lit streets of the 1870’s Old West provide the backdrop for a new hero: tracker, private eye, and gunslinger Matthew Slade.

#excerpt

SQUATTER’S RIGHTS by Cheril Thomas

In keeping with the family theme of this edition of Mystery Ahead, SQUATTER'S RIGHTS is a tantalizing mystery bound up in family secrets and where they are hidden.

The first book in the Eastern Shores Mysteries introduces Grace Reagan, a Washington DC attorney who just bought the huge money pit on Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore where her mother grew up. 

The old mansion, known as Delaney House, was last inhabited by Grace’s grandmother, Emma Delaney. Grace never knew why her late mother and grandmother were estranged. Buying the house feels like a first step toward righting a wrong from a past she doesn’t understand.

But to Grace’s surprise, a hitherto unknown uncle and cousin feel entitled to Delaney House, despite Emma’s will which forced the place to be sold at auction. Their goal is to push Grace out.

SQUATTER’S RIGHTS gives us a mystery embedded in the very bones of the house and in the family torn apart inside it. After setting the scene, the narrative is imbued with a quickening and page-turning sense of foreboding.

Grace remains at odds with the uncle and cousins as questions mount. What drove her mother away from Delaney House years ago and why do echoes of distrust and anger linger even now? What secrets did Emma take to the grave? Is Grace’s romantically-inclined contractor who he says he is?

Hints spool out in the form of letters written in the 1950’s by a newly married Emma to her parents back in Asheville, North Carolina. Loaded with suspense, the letters are inserted into the current-day action in exactly the right places, driving a two-pronged drama until past and present merge into shocking answers.

Enjoy a great sense of place and a tantalizing family secret. There are 4 more books in the series, too.

Highly recommended. 

That's all for this edition of Mystery Ahead.

Thank you for sharing your time with me. Now go read.😎 

 All the best, 

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