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Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club
'Crime's not a woman's business, Joanie. It's not some bloody game.'
In the murky world of Kings Cross in 1932, aspiring crime writer Joan Linderman and her friend and flatmate Bernice Becker live the wild bohemian life, a carnival of parties and fancy-dress artists' balls.
One Saturday night, Joan is thrown headfirst into a real crime when she finds Ellie, her neighbour, murdered. To prove her worth as a crime writer and bring Ellie's killer to justice, Joan secretly investigates the case in the footsteps of Sergeant Lillian Armfield.
But as Joan digs deeper, her list of suspects grows from the luxury apartment blocks of Sydney's rich to the brothels and nightclubs of the Cross's underclass.
Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club is a riveting noir crime thriller with more surprises than even novelist Joan bargained for: blackmail, kidnapping, drug-peddling, a pagan sex cult, undercover cops, and a shocking confession.
From the shadows of bohemian and underworld Kings Cross, who will emerge to tell the real story?
In the murky world of Kings Cross in 1932, aspiring crime writer Joan Linderman and her friend and flatmate Bernice Becker live the wild bohemian life, a carnival of parties and fancy-dress artists' balls.
One Saturday night, Joan is thrown headfirst into a real crime when she finds Ellie, her neighbour, murdered. To prove her worth as a crime writer and bring Ellie's killer to justice, Joan secretly investigates the case in the footsteps of Sergeant Lillian Armfield.
But as Joan digs deeper, her list of suspects grows from the luxury apartment blocks of Sydney's rich to the brothels and nightclubs of the Cross's underclass.
Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club is a riveting noir crime thriller with more surprises than even novelist Joan bargained for: blackmail, kidnapping, drug-peddling, a pagan sex cult, undercover cops, and a shocking confession.
From the shadows of bohemian and underworld Kings Cross, who will emerge to tell the real story?
395 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 3, 2020
9 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Julian Leatherdale
6 books41 followersJulian Leatherdale’s first love was the theatre. On graduation from a theatre studies degree at the University of NSW, he wrote lyrics for four satirical cabarets and a two-act musical. He discovered a passion for popular history as a staff writer, researcher and photo editor for Time-Life’s Australians At War series. He later researched and co-wrote two Film Australia-ABC documentaries Return to Sandakan and The Forgotten Force shown on the ABC and overseas. He was an image researcher at the State Library of NSW before joining the NSW Cabinet Office writing policy briefs for the Premier. For some years he was the public relations manager for an international hotel school in the Blue Mountains where he lives with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
April 25, 2020
*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
'But tomorrow night a door would open that not even the talented Lillian Armfield had managed to peek behind; a door into a world of intrigue and mystery, power and desire: the entrance to the secret world of the Ladies’ Goddess Club.’
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is an opulent historical odyssey into our nation’s past. Encompassing murder, ambition, blackmail, double crossings, love, lust, trauma and family relations, Julian Leatherdale’s latest is a truly absorbing novel. Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club reminds us of a glamorous, as well as a dangerous age in our country’s historical fabric.
Julian Leatherdale opens up the history books and transports us to an era of crime, deadly cat and mouse games and societal tensions. 1930s Sydney comes alive in Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, as Leatherdale relays a time in our not too distant past when razor gangs ruled the streets, class divisions were prevalent, political movements were gaining momentum and Australians were indulging in many underground vices. For the lead of this tale, Joan Linderman, the murder of her neighbour sees this aspiring sleuth begin her own crime investigation. Joan’s efforts lead her on a trail that is surprising, but also dangerous. Faced with a number of shocking obstacles along the way from deadly mobsters, to razor gangs, erotic parties, shady cops, drug deals, kidnapping, underground clubs and communist spies, Joan is exposed to it all in her quest to bring her friend’s murderer to justice.
Julian Leatherdale is a trusted voice in the category of Australian historical fiction. Leatherdale’s stories are rich and beautifully layered masterpieces that reflect the author’s passion for his craft, as well as his thorough approach to his research. I implore all readers of Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club to take the time to peruse the seven page sources spread at the back of this book. It is fascinating and impressive. It definitely encouraged me to look conduct some further reading on a number of areas covered in this book.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is the third novel I have read by this enthralling novelist. It seems like very book I have touched by Julian Leatherdale I have loved. Each book has its own unique stamp and is carefully realised. For me personally, Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club was a book I admired for the vivid recreation of the historical setting. Although this was a dangerous time filled with gangs, mobsters, underhanded cops, blackmail, kidnapping and murder, I still felt the pull of wanting to step back in time and visit this era firsthand. I lapped up the references to Sydney’s stunning architecture, the process of building the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, the art world, the bohemian lifestyle and the grassroots descriptions of daily life during this period. Equally fascinating was the focus on the political feelings of the time, which I had little knowledge of prior to this novel. The influence of communism and the dreadful feelings experienced by the returned soldiers, who were suffering mentally as well as physically, is portrayed with strong insight.
At its core, Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is a murder mystery novel revolving around Joan, a firecracker, who was clearly ahead of her time. I loved Joan’s profession as a writer and her aspirations to become a crime novelist really added an extra flourish to this novel. I liked how Leatherdale plunged his characters deep in a world of unknowns, especially with the focus on the underground clubs, which allows us to see how the community was pushing the boundaries in areas such as sex and drugs. Leatherdale pits his lead and supporting cast in colourful, as well as risky situations. There were many unexpected jolts in this novel that worked really well for me personally. I didn’t see the ending coming at all, it wasn’t predictable and I was completely absorbed in the final quarter of the book, it was utterly exhilarating. I didn’t want this one to end!
There is so much more that could be said and deconstructed about Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, from the famous figures in both the art community and police world that pop up (I loved Lillian Armfield). It is almost worth having a search engine up next to you as you read Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, it will inspire you to do some further integration into the life and times of many of the real life players mentioned in Leatherdale’s novel. Personally, I was touched by the love element in this book with leads Joan and Hugh, along with the family drama that plays out involving Joan’s extended family fold.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is a rollicking passage into a decadent, as well as perilous time in Australia’s past. Every Julian Leatherdale book I have encountered has been golden and Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is no exception. Absolutely sparkling!
*I wish to thank Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
'But tomorrow night a door would open that not even the talented Lillian Armfield had managed to peek behind; a door into a world of intrigue and mystery, power and desire: the entrance to the secret world of the Ladies’ Goddess Club.’
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is an opulent historical odyssey into our nation’s past. Encompassing murder, ambition, blackmail, double crossings, love, lust, trauma and family relations, Julian Leatherdale’s latest is a truly absorbing novel. Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club reminds us of a glamorous, as well as a dangerous age in our country’s historical fabric.
Julian Leatherdale opens up the history books and transports us to an era of crime, deadly cat and mouse games and societal tensions. 1930s Sydney comes alive in Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, as Leatherdale relays a time in our not too distant past when razor gangs ruled the streets, class divisions were prevalent, political movements were gaining momentum and Australians were indulging in many underground vices. For the lead of this tale, Joan Linderman, the murder of her neighbour sees this aspiring sleuth begin her own crime investigation. Joan’s efforts lead her on a trail that is surprising, but also dangerous. Faced with a number of shocking obstacles along the way from deadly mobsters, to razor gangs, erotic parties, shady cops, drug deals, kidnapping, underground clubs and communist spies, Joan is exposed to it all in her quest to bring her friend’s murderer to justice.
Julian Leatherdale is a trusted voice in the category of Australian historical fiction. Leatherdale’s stories are rich and beautifully layered masterpieces that reflect the author’s passion for his craft, as well as his thorough approach to his research. I implore all readers of Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club to take the time to peruse the seven page sources spread at the back of this book. It is fascinating and impressive. It definitely encouraged me to look conduct some further reading on a number of areas covered in this book.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is the third novel I have read by this enthralling novelist. It seems like very book I have touched by Julian Leatherdale I have loved. Each book has its own unique stamp and is carefully realised. For me personally, Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club was a book I admired for the vivid recreation of the historical setting. Although this was a dangerous time filled with gangs, mobsters, underhanded cops, blackmail, kidnapping and murder, I still felt the pull of wanting to step back in time and visit this era firsthand. I lapped up the references to Sydney’s stunning architecture, the process of building the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, the art world, the bohemian lifestyle and the grassroots descriptions of daily life during this period. Equally fascinating was the focus on the political feelings of the time, which I had little knowledge of prior to this novel. The influence of communism and the dreadful feelings experienced by the returned soldiers, who were suffering mentally as well as physically, is portrayed with strong insight.
At its core, Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is a murder mystery novel revolving around Joan, a firecracker, who was clearly ahead of her time. I loved Joan’s profession as a writer and her aspirations to become a crime novelist really added an extra flourish to this novel. I liked how Leatherdale plunged his characters deep in a world of unknowns, especially with the focus on the underground clubs, which allows us to see how the community was pushing the boundaries in areas such as sex and drugs. Leatherdale pits his lead and supporting cast in colourful, as well as risky situations. There were many unexpected jolts in this novel that worked really well for me personally. I didn’t see the ending coming at all, it wasn’t predictable and I was completely absorbed in the final quarter of the book, it was utterly exhilarating. I didn’t want this one to end!
There is so much more that could be said and deconstructed about Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, from the famous figures in both the art community and police world that pop up (I loved Lillian Armfield). It is almost worth having a search engine up next to you as you read Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club, it will inspire you to do some further integration into the life and times of many of the real life players mentioned in Leatherdale’s novel. Personally, I was touched by the love element in this book with leads Joan and Hugh, along with the family drama that plays out involving Joan’s extended family fold.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is a rollicking passage into a decadent, as well as perilous time in Australia’s past. Every Julian Leatherdale book I have encountered has been golden and Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is no exception. Absolutely sparkling!
*I wish to thank Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
May 27, 2020
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
After reading the blurb I really thought I would love this story of 1930’s Kings Cross. The Cross had such an eclectic mix of people in its community in the 30’s. Living as neighbours were showgirls, prostitutes, the well to do, those down on their luck, artists, gays, transvestites and the bohemian set. This mix gives for some great story telling.
Julian Leatherdale centres his story on the ideals and philosophies of the bohemian artist groups of the time. Although a purely fictional tale there are mentions of some of the greats of the era and a few historical events of note at that time.
Joan Linderman, a journalist and wannabe crime writer, falls in with the bohemians and their drugs, sex and alcohol parties via flamboyant flatmate Bernice, a successful novelist and poet.
When a tenant at their boarding house is found murdered, Joan decides to start her own investigation and at the same time collect ideas for her crime novel.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is largely a character driven story and I felt the murder mystery played second fiddle to the politics of the time and the sex, drugs, partying and dark underbelly of the cross.
I felt the end wrapped up too neatly and the twist was so left field it left me dazed.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club will appeal to Historical Fiction readers who enjoy the true historical side of the genre.
*Thank you to Beauty & Lace and the publisher for my copy.
After reading the blurb I really thought I would love this story of 1930’s Kings Cross. The Cross had such an eclectic mix of people in its community in the 30’s. Living as neighbours were showgirls, prostitutes, the well to do, those down on their luck, artists, gays, transvestites and the bohemian set. This mix gives for some great story telling.
Julian Leatherdale centres his story on the ideals and philosophies of the bohemian artist groups of the time. Although a purely fictional tale there are mentions of some of the greats of the era and a few historical events of note at that time.
Joan Linderman, a journalist and wannabe crime writer, falls in with the bohemians and their drugs, sex and alcohol parties via flamboyant flatmate Bernice, a successful novelist and poet.
When a tenant at their boarding house is found murdered, Joan decides to start her own investigation and at the same time collect ideas for her crime novel.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club is largely a character driven story and I felt the murder mystery played second fiddle to the politics of the time and the sex, drugs, partying and dark underbelly of the cross.
I felt the end wrapped up too neatly and the twist was so left field it left me dazed.
Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club will appeal to Historical Fiction readers who enjoy the true historical side of the genre.
*Thank you to Beauty & Lace and the publisher for my copy.
November 19, 2020
*www.onewomansbbr.wordpress.com
*www.facebook.com/onewomansbbr
Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale. (2020).
Kings Cross, 1932. Joan is an aspiring crime writer living a wild bohemian life with her friend and flatmate Bernice. On a Saturday night Joan is thrown headfirst into a real crime when they find Ellie, her neighbour, murdered. To prove her worth as a crime writer and bring Ellie's killer to justice, Joan secretly investigates in the footsteps of Sergeant Lillian. But as Joan digs deeper her list of suspects grow from Sydney's rich to the Cross's underclass. What will the real story be? It's more than Joan bargained for: blackmail, kidnapping, drug-peddling, a pagan sex cult, undercover cops, and a shocking confession...
This was my first novel by this author, having heard that all of his novels are fantastic. Earlier this year sadly this author passed away which is a loss for not only his loved ones, but also to the writing/reading community of Australia. Because there is no doubt that this author had a talent with words! I always greatly appreciate when a historical fiction novel includes or mentions characters that are in fact real people; I end up Googling a lot of people just to see who is fiction and who is real haha. In terms of storyline, there is a lot of interesting drama and I definetly didn't see the end coming. Joan was an intriguing lead character to follow and her flatmate was a firecracker! The time period of the book is certainly a fascinating one and when you have a plot that includes murder, razor gangs, sex cults and the wild bohemian lifestyle, you are certainly never going to get bored while reading!
I'd recommend this one for fans of historical and crime fiction.
*www.facebook.com/onewomansbbr
Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale. (2020).
Kings Cross, 1932. Joan is an aspiring crime writer living a wild bohemian life with her friend and flatmate Bernice. On a Saturday night Joan is thrown headfirst into a real crime when they find Ellie, her neighbour, murdered. To prove her worth as a crime writer and bring Ellie's killer to justice, Joan secretly investigates in the footsteps of Sergeant Lillian. But as Joan digs deeper her list of suspects grow from Sydney's rich to the Cross's underclass. What will the real story be? It's more than Joan bargained for: blackmail, kidnapping, drug-peddling, a pagan sex cult, undercover cops, and a shocking confession...
This was my first novel by this author, having heard that all of his novels are fantastic. Earlier this year sadly this author passed away which is a loss for not only his loved ones, but also to the writing/reading community of Australia. Because there is no doubt that this author had a talent with words! I always greatly appreciate when a historical fiction novel includes or mentions characters that are in fact real people; I end up Googling a lot of people just to see who is fiction and who is real haha. In terms of storyline, there is a lot of interesting drama and I definetly didn't see the end coming. Joan was an intriguing lead character to follow and her flatmate was a firecracker! The time period of the book is certainly a fascinating one and when you have a plot that includes murder, razor gangs, sex cults and the wild bohemian lifestyle, you are certainly never going to get bored while reading!
I'd recommend this one for fans of historical and crime fiction.
March 14, 2022
Death in the Ladies Goddess Club is a complex murder mystery set in Kings Cross in the 1930s. Leatherdale’s novel offers a cast of characters who are bohemian, on the dangerous side and despite their flaws, often very likeable. Though I didn't always agree with their antics.
The main protagonist, Joan, is a journalist by day and novel writer by night and she gets caught up in the mystery, amateur detective style, as the story gets played out in her novel. Leatherdale does a lovely job of bringing her to life, giving her plenty of verve. He also creates likeable, imperfect, characters in Joan's friend, Bernice, and other supporting parts.
I can tell you those days were pretty wild. Well, in the Cross at least. I loved the interweaving of Bacchus/Dionysus into the story. For me, it helped set a tone that I enjoyed reading about and I think that tone was about a certain...decadence. Whether the rich living in a mansion or the bohemian poor living in a boarding house, Leatherdale developed a depth in the novel's time period and history (for example the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) that was so fun to read.
'City of Shadows' was a term I came across once again while reading this novel. I got up and grabbed one of my favourite all time photography books, of the same name: City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 It’s a compilation of New South Wales police photographs from the early decades of the 1900s. Looking through it again was a nice adjunct to the read.
I will admit that I suspected the guilty party early on. However, I could never in a million years have guessed what was coming. For that reason, the story and surprise remained solid for me.
This was a rip-roaring mystery complete with blurred moral lines, Bacchus and communists. I can recommend it for anyone who likes mysteries, the 1930s or who is interested in Australian history.
Thank you to the publisher, Allen and Unwin, and the writer, Julian Leatherdale, for my advance reader copy, given in return for an honest review.
The main protagonist, Joan, is a journalist by day and novel writer by night and she gets caught up in the mystery, amateur detective style, as the story gets played out in her novel. Leatherdale does a lovely job of bringing her to life, giving her plenty of verve. He also creates likeable, imperfect, characters in Joan's friend, Bernice, and other supporting parts.
I can tell you those days were pretty wild. Well, in the Cross at least. I loved the interweaving of Bacchus/Dionysus into the story. For me, it helped set a tone that I enjoyed reading about and I think that tone was about a certain...decadence. Whether the rich living in a mansion or the bohemian poor living in a boarding house, Leatherdale developed a depth in the novel's time period and history (for example the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) that was so fun to read.
'City of Shadows' was a term I came across once again while reading this novel. I got up and grabbed one of my favourite all time photography books, of the same name: City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948 It’s a compilation of New South Wales police photographs from the early decades of the 1900s. Looking through it again was a nice adjunct to the read.
I will admit that I suspected the guilty party early on. However, I could never in a million years have guessed what was coming. For that reason, the story and surprise remained solid for me.
This was a rip-roaring mystery complete with blurred moral lines, Bacchus and communists. I can recommend it for anyone who likes mysteries, the 1930s or who is interested in Australian history.
Thank you to the publisher, Allen and Unwin, and the writer, Julian Leatherdale, for my advance reader copy, given in return for an honest review.
February 25, 2020
This was a beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing novel. Set in Sydney, mostly in Kings Cross, in 1932 this is one of the most rounded and convincing historical settings that I have ever encountered for the time period in Sydney.
The Cross and it's bohemian lifestyle in the 1930's flourished beside a very conservative middle class and this becomes the perfect setting for Joan finding her neighbour murdered. Joan starts investigating the case and incorporating it into her novel, trying to prove her worth as a crime writer despite the fact that women in the 30's 'can't write crime'. One of Joan's heroes is Sergeant Lillian Armfield, a woman investigating crime with the NSW police, but Joan never expected to be investigated by the redoubtable Sergeant herself.
We follow Joan as she rubs shoulders with the crime and bohemian set of Kings Cross in the 30's, but there is a strange twist in that her wealthy aunt has an all women club, what has this mysterious club to do with the murders? Joan is determined to find out if there is a link and to do that she must join the club.
The author does the most spectacular job of building the 1930's in Sydney, the attention to actual events is good, like the Harbour Bridge being under construction while characters take the ferry over the harbour and muse on the fact that soon the ferry will stop, this is then followed with a scene at the opening of the bridge. Then there are small personal details to round it out, like descriptions of streets and houses of Kings Cross, theater on the North shore, a multitude of tiny details that are so well integrated into the story that setting becomes a skillful, three dimensional entity that is convincing and delightful to read.
The characters are convincing, finely drawn and never anachronistic. This is really impressive, because I prefer likable characters but I get annoyed by anachronisms, this book manages to satisfy by creating characters that are either likable or at least relatable while never succumbing to the temptation to make them 'modern'. Our main narrator is Joan, who wants to be an crime author and has left her comfortable middle class home, with parents who just want her to get married and have a family, in order to work at a publishers and live a bohemian lifestyle, sharing a flat with another woman writer. I really enjoyed Joan, her boyfriend Hugh and all the other characters that played a part in this thoroughly impressive book.
I found the reading experience kind of ravishing, I enjoyed every page I read, I could see the scenes as they were described and I wanted more when it was finished - while still finding the ending very satisfying. Speaking of the ending, I never saw that coming! About halfway through reading I thought I had a handle on what would happen in the end but at the last moment the novel threw in the completely unexpected! And then? Then it turned itself all around and made it all different. One of the more unexpected endings to any crime novel I have encountered in ages.
I have never read anything by this author before, but I might have to go off and read more.
Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for this Advance Reading Copy, in return for an honest review.
The Cross and it's bohemian lifestyle in the 1930's flourished beside a very conservative middle class and this becomes the perfect setting for Joan finding her neighbour murdered. Joan starts investigating the case and incorporating it into her novel, trying to prove her worth as a crime writer despite the fact that women in the 30's 'can't write crime'. One of Joan's heroes is Sergeant Lillian Armfield, a woman investigating crime with the NSW police, but Joan never expected to be investigated by the redoubtable Sergeant herself.
We follow Joan as she rubs shoulders with the crime and bohemian set of Kings Cross in the 30's, but there is a strange twist in that her wealthy aunt has an all women club, what has this mysterious club to do with the murders? Joan is determined to find out if there is a link and to do that she must join the club.
The author does the most spectacular job of building the 1930's in Sydney, the attention to actual events is good, like the Harbour Bridge being under construction while characters take the ferry over the harbour and muse on the fact that soon the ferry will stop, this is then followed with a scene at the opening of the bridge. Then there are small personal details to round it out, like descriptions of streets and houses of Kings Cross, theater on the North shore, a multitude of tiny details that are so well integrated into the story that setting becomes a skillful, three dimensional entity that is convincing and delightful to read.
The characters are convincing, finely drawn and never anachronistic. This is really impressive, because I prefer likable characters but I get annoyed by anachronisms, this book manages to satisfy by creating characters that are either likable or at least relatable while never succumbing to the temptation to make them 'modern'. Our main narrator is Joan, who wants to be an crime author and has left her comfortable middle class home, with parents who just want her to get married and have a family, in order to work at a publishers and live a bohemian lifestyle, sharing a flat with another woman writer. I really enjoyed Joan, her boyfriend Hugh and all the other characters that played a part in this thoroughly impressive book.
I found the reading experience kind of ravishing, I enjoyed every page I read, I could see the scenes as they were described and I wanted more when it was finished - while still finding the ending very satisfying. Speaking of the ending, I never saw that coming! About halfway through reading I thought I had a handle on what would happen in the end but at the last moment the novel threw in the completely unexpected! And then? Then it turned itself all around and made it all different. One of the more unexpected endings to any crime novel I have encountered in ages.
I have never read anything by this author before, but I might have to go off and read more.
Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for this Advance Reading Copy, in return for an honest review.
June 10, 2020
This book reveals the wild and colourful times of the 1930's in Kings Cross Sydney, a reputation that it still shares today. The read is as colourful as it's setting with side stories of the times in the depression and the after effects of the war on families, the narrow mindness of society while criminals ran amok with prostitution, illegal grog, drugs and murder.
Joan Linderman has tossed in the suburbs with mum and dad to share a flat in an old house now a boarding house with Bernice (Bernie), an accomplished writer. Joan is a sub editor for a women's magazine but her ambition is to write crime novels and Bernie has offered to take her under her wing, although sometimes her wild behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. Friend, Bill Jenkins, chief crime reporter for one of the daily newspapers scoffs at the idea of a woman writing about crime and to convince Joan he takes her to a club run by Sydney's underworld where he points out some of the more prominent criminals.
Joan's wealthy Aunt Olympia and Uncle Gordon live in an exclusive apartment nearby. However Aunt Olympia is not all that she seems to be, a High Priestess for The Ladies' Bacchus Club. When one of the girls, Eleanor, from the boarding house is murdered in her room Joan finds herself in the middle of the real crime of murder for which with her being one of the first on the scene is interviewed by police. Joan removes evidence linking her Aunt, a printed letterhead on a piece of paper of The Ladies' Bacchus Club. With her boyfriend Hugh's suggestion Joan reluctantly decides to do a bit of blackmailing for which she is able to use the proceeds to help her financially struggling parents. Hugh, is also a bit of an intrigue, involved with the Communist Party under an alias is also involved with Uncle Gordon's New Guard right-wing militants.
Joan, still wrestling with the ambivalent attitude from Bill Jenkins of female crime writers, decides to do her own detective work which puts her into real danger with the underworld.
The final part of this read reveals so much more of the secretive Hugh but also with a further final good news twist at the end.
Joan Linderman has tossed in the suburbs with mum and dad to share a flat in an old house now a boarding house with Bernice (Bernie), an accomplished writer. Joan is a sub editor for a women's magazine but her ambition is to write crime novels and Bernie has offered to take her under her wing, although sometimes her wild behaviour leaves a lot to be desired. Friend, Bill Jenkins, chief crime reporter for one of the daily newspapers scoffs at the idea of a woman writing about crime and to convince Joan he takes her to a club run by Sydney's underworld where he points out some of the more prominent criminals.
Joan's wealthy Aunt Olympia and Uncle Gordon live in an exclusive apartment nearby. However Aunt Olympia is not all that she seems to be, a High Priestess for The Ladies' Bacchus Club. When one of the girls, Eleanor, from the boarding house is murdered in her room Joan finds herself in the middle of the real crime of murder for which with her being one of the first on the scene is interviewed by police. Joan removes evidence linking her Aunt, a printed letterhead on a piece of paper of The Ladies' Bacchus Club. With her boyfriend Hugh's suggestion Joan reluctantly decides to do a bit of blackmailing for which she is able to use the proceeds to help her financially struggling parents. Hugh, is also a bit of an intrigue, involved with the Communist Party under an alias is also involved with Uncle Gordon's New Guard right-wing militants.
Joan, still wrestling with the ambivalent attitude from Bill Jenkins of female crime writers, decides to do her own detective work which puts her into real danger with the underworld.
The final part of this read reveals so much more of the secretive Hugh but also with a further final good news twist at the end.
March 18, 2020
It has to be said, the covers of Julian Leatherdale's books are always exquisite. Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club is the second of his books I've read (Palace of Tears, his debut was published in 2015) and their covers reflect the opulent lives and stories dwelling in them.
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
March 8, 2020
“...she had sat at her typewriter, happily composing a murder scene for her novel. And now here she was thrust without warning into the middle of a real one, the unspeakably gruesome death of someone she knew.”
By day, Joan Linderman is a subeditor for a leading womens magazine, while at night she works on a crime novel she hopes to one day have published. But when her downstairs neighbour is discovered with her throat slashed, the line between fiction and fact becomes blurred, and Joan finds herself caught up in a tale of murder, blackmail, violence, and betrayal.
“Crime's not a woman's business, Joanie. It's not some bloody game.”
The murdered woman, a prostitute, is more acquaintance than friend, so Joan is shocked when she finds a note that suggests a connection between Ellie and her rich, estranged uncle and aunt, former Major now lawyer, Gordon Fielding-Jones, and his wife Olympia. Leatherdale provides a complex mystery as Joan’s amateur investigation into the link takes surprising twists and turns through the stratum of society.
“It was a frightening, chaotic time for those who lived in the cross and its environs, but Joan felt an indescribable thrill to be living on the edge of this vortex of violence.”
What I particularly enjoyed about the novel was Leatherdale’s depiction of the social and political schism in Australia during the 1930’s. In the post World War I period, as the Great Depression steadily widened the gap between the haves and have nots, Sydney was the epicentre of unrest as the New Guard railed against Lang’s progressive government, the communist party tried to rally the masses against the upper class, razor gangs ruled the streets, and the bohemian community expressed its disdain for it all. The author brilliantly captures the divisions and overlap of these groups from the double agents amongst the political parties, to the criminal supply of drugs to the upper classes. The ceremonies of the Ladies Bacchus (aka Goddess) Club, are an elitist version of the uninhibited bohemian parties, without any recognition of the irony. The author also touches on issues such as the struggle of injured returned soldiers from the Great War, womens rights, and the marvel that was the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“For now she was heartily sick of this world of men’s making, of so much cruelty and suffering.”
An engaging historical mystery with a noir-ish feel, I enjoyed Death in the Ladies Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale
By day, Joan Linderman is a subeditor for a leading womens magazine, while at night she works on a crime novel she hopes to one day have published. But when her downstairs neighbour is discovered with her throat slashed, the line between fiction and fact becomes blurred, and Joan finds herself caught up in a tale of murder, blackmail, violence, and betrayal.
“Crime's not a woman's business, Joanie. It's not some bloody game.”
The murdered woman, a prostitute, is more acquaintance than friend, so Joan is shocked when she finds a note that suggests a connection between Ellie and her rich, estranged uncle and aunt, former Major now lawyer, Gordon Fielding-Jones, and his wife Olympia. Leatherdale provides a complex mystery as Joan’s amateur investigation into the link takes surprising twists and turns through the stratum of society.
“It was a frightening, chaotic time for those who lived in the cross and its environs, but Joan felt an indescribable thrill to be living on the edge of this vortex of violence.”
What I particularly enjoyed about the novel was Leatherdale’s depiction of the social and political schism in Australia during the 1930’s. In the post World War I period, as the Great Depression steadily widened the gap between the haves and have nots, Sydney was the epicentre of unrest as the New Guard railed against Lang’s progressive government, the communist party tried to rally the masses against the upper class, razor gangs ruled the streets, and the bohemian community expressed its disdain for it all. The author brilliantly captures the divisions and overlap of these groups from the double agents amongst the political parties, to the criminal supply of drugs to the upper classes. The ceremonies of the Ladies Bacchus (aka Goddess) Club, are an elitist version of the uninhibited bohemian parties, without any recognition of the irony. The author also touches on issues such as the struggle of injured returned soldiers from the Great War, womens rights, and the marvel that was the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“For now she was heartily sick of this world of men’s making, of so much cruelty and suffering.”
An engaging historical mystery with a noir-ish feel, I enjoyed Death in the Ladies Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale
April 9, 2020
Bit of a slow burn... almost gave up at one stage but decided to battle on. Ended better than I expected.
August 10, 2020
Review to come
May 25, 2020
Historical fiction done really well. This was pure escapism into the razor gang world of Depression-era Kings Cross, when not everyone was suffering deprivation or on the track. The rich lived very well indeed, and often off the profits of crime. The research is impeccable, and while at times I felt that tangents, such as scenes with Zora Cross, were there to showcase what was happening in this bohemian world at the time and show the sacrifices a 'woman writer' had to make, they were always interesting and enriched the texture of the fictive world.
This is a world that reminded me very much of Sulari Gentill's Rowland Sinclair mysteries, with the conflicts between the communists and the New Guard, federal and state politics, and the rich and the bohemian in their harbourside mansions. There was also a little, I thought, of Gentill's Crossing the Lines, as the protagonist Joan is a crime writer, writing about a crime investigation with herself as a character, as she investigates the crime in real life, forcing edits and plot twists in her novel. And as Sgt. Lillian Armfield says, it is all about endings. While there is more than one plot twist at the end, I guessed the Who and What of them early on -- but not the Why. Leatherdale's plotting is excellent in obfuscating the truth with red herrings and misdirection, while hiding the answers in plain sight.
Recommended.
This is a world that reminded me very much of Sulari Gentill's Rowland Sinclair mysteries, with the conflicts between the communists and the New Guard, federal and state politics, and the rich and the bohemian in their harbourside mansions. There was also a little, I thought, of Gentill's Crossing the Lines, as the protagonist Joan is a crime writer, writing about a crime investigation with herself as a character, as she investigates the crime in real life, forcing edits and plot twists in her novel. And as Sgt. Lillian Armfield says, it is all about endings. While there is more than one plot twist at the end, I guessed the Who and What of them early on -- but not the Why. Leatherdale's plotting is excellent in obfuscating the truth with red herrings and misdirection, while hiding the answers in plain sight.
Recommended.
March 12, 2020
- thanks to @allenandunwin for sending the book my way!
The idea of seeing Syndey back in the 1930s was quite appealing, so I went into this book with enthusiasm. The author does an outstanding job setting the atmosphere of the era, capturing several exciting historical moments which I enjoyed, including the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
I was unsure about how a male author would depict a female main character from back then, and although Joan does not have any majors flaws as a character, she didn't feel like the female badass she was supposed to be. The secondary characters were varied: from broken souls to rich gangsters and bohemians, they kept the story moving in a constant and affable pace.
My biggest issue with this book was the ending; I could see from miles away that there was something shady going on with a particular character, but I did not see the final plot twist coming, which was in my opinion, quite far-fetched. I dislike when the 'whodunnit' comes out of nowhere and makes little sense.
Overall, Death in the Ladies Goddess Club was a quick, entertaining read. Recommended to any readers who enjoy historical fiction and crime, especially Aussies!
The idea of seeing Syndey back in the 1930s was quite appealing, so I went into this book with enthusiasm. The author does an outstanding job setting the atmosphere of the era, capturing several exciting historical moments which I enjoyed, including the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
I was unsure about how a male author would depict a female main character from back then, and although Joan does not have any majors flaws as a character, she didn't feel like the female badass she was supposed to be. The secondary characters were varied: from broken souls to rich gangsters and bohemians, they kept the story moving in a constant and affable pace.
My biggest issue with this book was the ending; I could see from miles away that there was something shady going on with a particular character, but I did not see the final plot twist coming, which was in my opinion, quite far-fetched. I dislike when the 'whodunnit' comes out of nowhere and makes little sense.
Overall, Death in the Ladies Goddess Club was a quick, entertaining read. Recommended to any readers who enjoy historical fiction and crime, especially Aussies!
February 20, 2020
With a big shout out I would like to thank Julian Leatherdale and Allen and Unwin for the ARC of Death in the Ladies Goddess Club.
This excellent Australian crime thriller is set in Kings Cross, Sydney’s infamous entertainment area, in post war 1932. The protagonist Joan is a crime writer who finds her neighbour murdered. There is complexity to this story with great character development; I was intrigued until the end. This is the first book I've read by Julian Leatherdale, I've added her earlier books to my list of books to read. Definitely recommend.
This excellent Australian crime thriller is set in Kings Cross, Sydney’s infamous entertainment area, in post war 1932. The protagonist Joan is a crime writer who finds her neighbour murdered. There is complexity to this story with great character development; I was intrigued until the end. This is the first book I've read by Julian Leatherdale, I've added her earlier books to my list of books to read. Definitely recommend.
December 30, 2020
The audio book narration was good but the novel was too long, lingering on unimportant detail and padding out the chapters with a lot of overthinking. The history is interesting and I love a story set in Sydney.
January 17, 2022
I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The setting and historical background was great. All the components were there to make it truly interesting but so much of the early part made me feel I was reading a cosy mystery, an Agatha Christie style perhaps , where not much emotion is spent on the murder but as the story progresses things got a bit more serious and some depth and insight was introduced.
The wind up of the story is surprising although I think there's enough clues to see part of it coming.
I will probably read the authors other 2 books as the historical settings are interesting and the writer enjoys their research.
The wind up of the story is surprising although I think there's enough clues to see part of it coming.
I will probably read the authors other 2 books as the historical settings are interesting and the writer enjoys their research.
August 22, 2020
After reading the blurb for this I was very excited to immerse myself in the dark side of Kings Cross in the early 1900s. Sadly this book just didn’t work for me - it felt like the author found lots of interesting facts about the history of the area and had to just keep dropping them into the plot to make sure and use them all. Being reasonably familiar with the history of the area I found this to be a distraction from the plot. The ending also left me feeling a bit cheated.
September 5, 2021
This book is about a young woman writer who is living the bohemian lifestyle in Sydney in the 30s. When a friend is murdered she uses her writing to help her solve the murder.
This was just ok for me.
This was just ok for me.
December 22, 2019
The setiing of Death in the Ladies Goddess Club is early 1930's Sydney, and specifically in the notorious King's Cross streets. Joan is a writer for a local paper and of a crime based novel she is pecking away with. Her friends are mostly street girls scrapping for a living in an environment still overshadowed by the Great War. Many of their men either didn't come home or are too damaged to resume a normal life.
The counter-point of the financially challenged women and the well-to-do Society dames couldn't be more evident. One of the girls living in the creaky old mansion in which Joan also lives is found stabbed to death in the room next door. The violence escalates and Joan walks a fine line between investigating the crimes and staying out of trouble herself.
Her uncle and auntie are firmly entrenched on the other side of the tracks, living it up with the hoi pollie of Sydney's social set. But all is not how it seems and Joan risks her own life to uncover the truth. We even get to share the opening of the new Sydney Harbour Bridge which is a nice touch. Not many novels have covered this era of Australian society and Julian Leatherdale's depiction is first rate.
The counter-point of the financially challenged women and the well-to-do Society dames couldn't be more evident. One of the girls living in the creaky old mansion in which Joan also lives is found stabbed to death in the room next door. The violence escalates and Joan walks a fine line between investigating the crimes and staying out of trouble herself.
Her uncle and auntie are firmly entrenched on the other side of the tracks, living it up with the hoi pollie of Sydney's social set. But all is not how it seems and Joan risks her own life to uncover the truth. We even get to share the opening of the new Sydney Harbour Bridge which is a nice touch. Not many novels have covered this era of Australian society and Julian Leatherdale's depiction is first rate.
May 21, 2020
Joan escaped her lower middle class existence and moved to Kings Cross to be a journalist with dreams of being a crime writer. It’s 1932, the hard decades after the great war, and before the Harbour Bridge was finished and opened. She shares a room with a true Bohemian, Bernice, who has introduced her to all the glitteratti of the Sydney scene, from Norman Lindsay to feminist writers, to artists, sculptors and members of the various clubs Bernie always seems to be a member of.
Joan adores her red ragger (communist) boyfriend Hugh but can’t possible take him home for a Sunday roast, not that she has been home for a year.
The Goddess Club of the title is a secret society set up by Joan’s extravagant Aunt Olivia who is married to a pillar of Sydney society, lawyer Gordon Fielding-Jones.
Sydney is awash with speakeasies, gangs and cheap cocaine; it’s the time of the razor gangs, when dobbers/grasses would get a cut face or worse.
Her friend Bill, crime reporter, gives her some crime scene photos to add detail to her own imaginings, but it all comes much closer to home when one of the other boarding house residents, Ellie, is murdered. Ellie was a prostitute and it looks like a razor gang job, until Jessie, her room mate also disappears out of the hospital after getting her face slashed.
Joan tries to ‘write it out’ to solve the case and her own deadline looming case of author’s block.
She picked up a blood stained piece of paper from the crime scene with a phone number written on Goddess Club stationery. When she calls the number, it’s the direct line to her Uncle Gordon’s desk at his law firm.
Did he know Ellie? Did he kill her or have her killed? Why?
Then Joan finds out that Ellie was hired to teach the goddess members some of the finer points of loving other women, and her friend Bernie was having an affair with Ellie. *gasp*
But who was Ellie’s male protector, who gave her money and gifts and drove her to her Mum’s place in a flash car?
888
Joan gets herself in all sorts of knots here. She and Hugh even blackmail Gordon over the note.
I really enjoyed all the locations [I live in Sydney] and it is refreshing to hear a true Aussie book, read by an Aussie narrator - ‘yeah mate, he said he’d rearrange your face!’
Sighs happily…
But… there is a LOT of info here. Clearly the author did all the research about Sydney crime gangs of the 1930’s, and he name drops like a champion. Gangsters, writers, poets, artists, sculptors, police officers etc. They’re all here.
But… it’s kind of repetitive. And
And that kind of ruined it for me.
So I guess it’s three stars.
Joan adores her red ragger (communist) boyfriend Hugh but can’t possible take him home for a Sunday roast, not that she has been home for a year.
The Goddess Club of the title is a secret society set up by Joan’s extravagant Aunt Olivia who is married to a pillar of Sydney society, lawyer Gordon Fielding-Jones.
Sydney is awash with speakeasies, gangs and cheap cocaine; it’s the time of the razor gangs, when dobbers/grasses would get a cut face or worse.
Her friend Bill, crime reporter, gives her some crime scene photos to add detail to her own imaginings, but it all comes much closer to home when one of the other boarding house residents, Ellie, is murdered. Ellie was a prostitute and it looks like a razor gang job, until Jessie, her room mate also disappears out of the hospital after getting her face slashed.
Joan tries to ‘write it out’ to solve the case and her own deadline looming case of author’s block.
She picked up a blood stained piece of paper from the crime scene with a phone number written on Goddess Club stationery. When she calls the number, it’s the direct line to her Uncle Gordon’s desk at his law firm.
Did he know Ellie? Did he kill her or have her killed? Why?
Then Joan finds out that Ellie was hired to teach the goddess members some of the finer points of loving other women, and her friend Bernie was having an affair with Ellie. *gasp*
But who was Ellie’s male protector, who gave her money and gifts and drove her to her Mum’s place in a flash car?
888
Joan gets herself in all sorts of knots here. She and Hugh even blackmail Gordon over the note.
I really enjoyed all the locations [I live in Sydney] and it is refreshing to hear a true Aussie book, read by an Aussie narrator - ‘yeah mate, he said he’d rearrange your face!’
Sighs happily…
But… there is a LOT of info here. Clearly the author did all the research about Sydney crime gangs of the 1930’s, and he name drops like a champion. Gangsters, writers, poets, artists, sculptors, police officers etc. They’re all here.
But… it’s kind of repetitive. And
And that kind of ruined it for me.
So I guess it’s three stars.
May 5, 2020
I haven't read any other books by Julian Leatherdale, but from Death in the Ladies' Goddess Club I can only imagine they would be chock full of historical accuracy - as this was. Joan Linderman, aspiring crime writer, lives with Bernice Becker, a wild party girl if ever there was one, in the middle of Kings Cross, 1932. Her block of flats houses many colourful characters indeed, including a very bad tempered landlady. Joan's parents are suburban, 'ordinary', nice people, unlike her aunt and uncle who also live in Kings Cross. It's rumoured the latter throw wild, debauched parties - ones Joan's parents have never been invited to (and possibly don't know exist) - and that Aunt Olympia has founded a women's own society inspired by 'the ancient cult of female worshippers of Bacchus, Greek god of grapes and wine, ritual madness and ecstasy'. Entry is by invitation only, so Joan can only imagine what goes on - but thinks she might like to go anyway.... The plot thickens when one of Bernie's best friends, a prostitute, is violently slashed to death in Joan's block of flats. Joan dares to take one small, blood-drenched clue from the murder scene, inspired to do some sleuthing herself! It's a slippery path she treads, the clue leading as it does into the very murky and dangerous crime underworld of the Cross. There are warnings and crimes upon crimes, murder, sex, drugs, blackmail and kidnapping. Joan writes everything down as she tries to work out, and suddenly 'her novel', something she'd been struggling with, takes off. She's both exhilarated and appalled it's taken murder to inspire her creativity! This is a novel of many twists and turns, unexpected and surprising, as the truth begins to shakily emerge. An engaging murder mystery. I was very sorry to hear of the author's death the day after I finished the book. What a sad loss indeed. RIP Julian Leatherdale.
Thanks to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin Australia for the review copy.
Thanks to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin Australia for the review copy.
June 2, 2020
Julian Leatherdale is an author I’ve always wanted to try but the thing of ‘too many books, not enough time’ has always gotten me. He is the author of three adult books and this is his most recent. Unfortunately, shortly after the publication of this novel, he passed away after a battle with an inoperable liver cancer. I have all three of his books but decided to start with this one and work my way backwards.
Death In The Ladies’ Goddess Club brings the life of Bohemian Sydney in the 1930s to life in vivid fashion. Joan Linderman works by day for a women’s magazine but she really longs to be a writer, with a specific interest in crime writing despite the fact that she’s been told it’s not women’s business. Joan gets a chance to meet female police officer Lilian Armfield first hand when a woman living in Joan’s building is murdered and Joan’s flatmate Bernice is the person who discovers her body.
There’s something for everyone in this. Joan is an intriguing main character. She’s left behind the comfort of her family home and moved to Kings Cross. She has no interest in getting married, or having children. If she’s not writing then it’s socialising with other creative types, introduced to her by Bernice, a mentor of sorts, who has taken Joan under her wing. Kings Cross is a melting pot with a seedy underbelly as well. Joan gets drawn into a murder when Ellie, a prostitute who lives downstairs is murdered, her throat brutally slashed. Feeling the police won’t care about another dead whore, Joan uses her crime novel as a way to puzzle out the murder, inserting herself and Armfield into the narrative as she tries to work out who killed Ellie – and why.
There’s plenty of mystery and intrigue for Joan to get caught up in, including an exclusive club run by her aunt, who married a wealthy lawyer who built a distinguished reputation as a Major in the war. It’s a time of political instability in Australia as well – the Communist Party is trying to gain traction, the Harbour Bridge is almost complete but with arguments over payments and there’s discord between the Premier and the Prime Minister. It’s also the Depression and Joan knows that she cannot afford to lose her job. There’s a great divide between the ‘haves’, like her aunt and uncle and the have nots of the lower classes of society. And then there’s the criminal bosses that run drugs and booze.
It’s obvious that this book has been meticulously researched. I haven’t ever lived in inner-city Sydney but I have explored it, including the area which this book takes part in. The city comes alive, as does the time period. In the afterword, Leatherdale lists a lot of the texts and chapters he read in order to render the city so brilliantly and I found a few things there that I think would make for fascinating reading. The book is peppered with real people, such as Lilian Armfield and namechecks others, like Norman Lindsey and Phil Jeffs, aka “Phil the Jew”.
The pace ebbs and flows as needed, mixing up heart-stopping scenes of potential danger with a lazier, more laid back vibe of life in the inner-city Bohemian circle. There’s drinking, quite a bit of cocaine taking and a shrewd look at the poor options women often have in terms of paying bills and keeping households afloat. Joan sees sacrifice everywhere, including her flatmate Bernice and Ellie, both of whom are mothers who have entrusted the care of their children to their own mothers. For Ellie, her options to not lose the house she and her husband had purchased, are few and far between and with her looks, she’s popular with clients.
There was an interesting twist near the end, that showed that there was much more going on than originally thought. A grander plot and although suspicion crossed my mind about one of the people earlier in the piece, the ending felt satisfying and unexpected. I really enjoyed the ride this book took me on – it was incredibly engaging with a cast of colourful characters that ran a spectrum from plucky and courageous to the lowest of the low. I look forward to adding Julian Leatherdale’s two other novels, The Opal’s Dragonfly and Palace Of Tears to my TBR’s in months to come and getting to experience those as well.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
Death In The Ladies’ Goddess Club brings the life of Bohemian Sydney in the 1930s to life in vivid fashion. Joan Linderman works by day for a women’s magazine but she really longs to be a writer, with a specific interest in crime writing despite the fact that she’s been told it’s not women’s business. Joan gets a chance to meet female police officer Lilian Armfield first hand when a woman living in Joan’s building is murdered and Joan’s flatmate Bernice is the person who discovers her body.
There’s something for everyone in this. Joan is an intriguing main character. She’s left behind the comfort of her family home and moved to Kings Cross. She has no interest in getting married, or having children. If she’s not writing then it’s socialising with other creative types, introduced to her by Bernice, a mentor of sorts, who has taken Joan under her wing. Kings Cross is a melting pot with a seedy underbelly as well. Joan gets drawn into a murder when Ellie, a prostitute who lives downstairs is murdered, her throat brutally slashed. Feeling the police won’t care about another dead whore, Joan uses her crime novel as a way to puzzle out the murder, inserting herself and Armfield into the narrative as she tries to work out who killed Ellie – and why.
There’s plenty of mystery and intrigue for Joan to get caught up in, including an exclusive club run by her aunt, who married a wealthy lawyer who built a distinguished reputation as a Major in the war. It’s a time of political instability in Australia as well – the Communist Party is trying to gain traction, the Harbour Bridge is almost complete but with arguments over payments and there’s discord between the Premier and the Prime Minister. It’s also the Depression and Joan knows that she cannot afford to lose her job. There’s a great divide between the ‘haves’, like her aunt and uncle and the have nots of the lower classes of society. And then there’s the criminal bosses that run drugs and booze.
It’s obvious that this book has been meticulously researched. I haven’t ever lived in inner-city Sydney but I have explored it, including the area which this book takes part in. The city comes alive, as does the time period. In the afterword, Leatherdale lists a lot of the texts and chapters he read in order to render the city so brilliantly and I found a few things there that I think would make for fascinating reading. The book is peppered with real people, such as Lilian Armfield and namechecks others, like Norman Lindsey and Phil Jeffs, aka “Phil the Jew”.
The pace ebbs and flows as needed, mixing up heart-stopping scenes of potential danger with a lazier, more laid back vibe of life in the inner-city Bohemian circle. There’s drinking, quite a bit of cocaine taking and a shrewd look at the poor options women often have in terms of paying bills and keeping households afloat. Joan sees sacrifice everywhere, including her flatmate Bernice and Ellie, both of whom are mothers who have entrusted the care of their children to their own mothers. For Ellie, her options to not lose the house she and her husband had purchased, are few and far between and with her looks, she’s popular with clients.
There was an interesting twist near the end, that showed that there was much more going on than originally thought. A grander plot and although suspicion crossed my mind about one of the people earlier in the piece, the ending felt satisfying and unexpected. I really enjoyed the ride this book took me on – it was incredibly engaging with a cast of colourful characters that ran a spectrum from plucky and courageous to the lowest of the low. I look forward to adding Julian Leatherdale’s two other novels, The Opal’s Dragonfly and Palace Of Tears to my TBR’s in months to come and getting to experience those as well.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
May 3, 2020
Death in the Ladies Goddess Club
This exciting Australian crime thriller ‘Death in the Ladies Goddess Club’ is set in post war 1930's in the notorious King's Cross in Sydney. Joan Linderman the protagonist of the story is the subeditor of the leading womens magazine ‘The Australian Woman’s Mirror’, compiling the gossip and womanly wisdom of ‘Between Ourselves’ while in her spare time she is writing a crime novel she hopes to one day have published. Her friends are mostly bohemians and street girls who scrape together a living in a world that is still overshadowed by the War. One evening Joan finds a neighbour murdered with her throat slashed. Due to Joan’s interest in crime she takes it upon herself to become involved in the investigation as there is evidence left at the crime scene that may implicate her high profile Uncle and Aunt; Joan slips this evidence out of the police sight.
Her Uncle Gordon Fielding-Jones, former Major and a member of the New Guard and her Auntie Olympia, founder and High Priestess of The Ladies’ Bacchus Club are part of the hoi polloi of Sydney's social set and are living the high life in comparison to Joan her family and friends.
Joan finds herself caught up in a world of murder, blackmail, violence, betrayal with a little romance thrown in.
A fast paced, well researched crime thriller with lots of suspense and twists that the reader doesn’t see coming. I particularly enjoyed the social and political portrayal of the period. Razor gangs that rules the streets, bohemian communities, struggles of returned soldiers, women’s rights and the gap between the rich and the poor. There was even a lovely chapter on the opening of the new Sydney Harbour Bridge and the excitement of the day.
I was very sad to hear of the passing of the author in April 2020. I have enjoyed all his books and he has left a wonderful legacy of titles that readers will enjoy for years.
This exciting Australian crime thriller ‘Death in the Ladies Goddess Club’ is set in post war 1930's in the notorious King's Cross in Sydney. Joan Linderman the protagonist of the story is the subeditor of the leading womens magazine ‘The Australian Woman’s Mirror’, compiling the gossip and womanly wisdom of ‘Between Ourselves’ while in her spare time she is writing a crime novel she hopes to one day have published. Her friends are mostly bohemians and street girls who scrape together a living in a world that is still overshadowed by the War. One evening Joan finds a neighbour murdered with her throat slashed. Due to Joan’s interest in crime she takes it upon herself to become involved in the investigation as there is evidence left at the crime scene that may implicate her high profile Uncle and Aunt; Joan slips this evidence out of the police sight.
Her Uncle Gordon Fielding-Jones, former Major and a member of the New Guard and her Auntie Olympia, founder and High Priestess of The Ladies’ Bacchus Club are part of the hoi polloi of Sydney's social set and are living the high life in comparison to Joan her family and friends.
Joan finds herself caught up in a world of murder, blackmail, violence, betrayal with a little romance thrown in.
A fast paced, well researched crime thriller with lots of suspense and twists that the reader doesn’t see coming. I particularly enjoyed the social and political portrayal of the period. Razor gangs that rules the streets, bohemian communities, struggles of returned soldiers, women’s rights and the gap between the rich and the poor. There was even a lovely chapter on the opening of the new Sydney Harbour Bridge and the excitement of the day.
I was very sad to hear of the passing of the author in April 2020. I have enjoyed all his books and he has left a wonderful legacy of titles that readers will enjoy for years.
July 12, 2020
A young lady is working by day as a journalist for a ladies magazine and by night as a crime fiction novelist. She lives in a building of cheap rentals in Kings Cross giving her a chance to mix with all sorts. A murder happens in the building and she becomes involved in investigating the murder by choice in parallel to the Police investigation. She is also questioned by the Police.
Her rich relatives have not assisted her family, but may be connected to the murder so when she gets the chance to join the Ladies Goddess Club with it’s possible connections, a club run by her Aunt, she takes the opportunity.
Julian managed to write a story that had many different turns, and revealed a lot about the seedier style of life in Kings Cross and the life of survival for women in prostitution and gangsters with competition. Also showing aspects of the effects of the WWI on the men who returned.
I look forward to reading his 3rd book when I have caught up some others.
Her rich relatives have not assisted her family, but may be connected to the murder so when she gets the chance to join the Ladies Goddess Club with it’s possible connections, a club run by her Aunt, she takes the opportunity.
Julian managed to write a story that had many different turns, and revealed a lot about the seedier style of life in Kings Cross and the life of survival for women in prostitution and gangsters with competition. Also showing aspects of the effects of the WWI on the men who returned.
I look forward to reading his 3rd book when I have caught up some others.
March 5, 2021
Well researched, this story is set in Kings Cross, Sydney in 1932, just as the new Harbour Bridge is about to be opened.
The are many characters living in this vibrant part of Sydney - The Cross is a village in itself.
Accommodation is cheap and people live with little privacy due to the thin walls in converted mansions. How could a murder occur without everyone knowing until it is too late?
The residents of the Cross are prostitutes, bohemians, gangsters and our protagonist, Joan, who fancies her self as a writer of crime stories - almost unheard of for a women in those times.
The plot has many twists and turns. Were there three murders or only two? Certainly three dead bodies. Who is the murderer? Everyone is a suspect.
Damaged returned servicemen, gangsters in the world of prostitution and drugs, the rise of communism and the political turmoil of the times makes for a good read.
The are many characters living in this vibrant part of Sydney - The Cross is a village in itself.
Accommodation is cheap and people live with little privacy due to the thin walls in converted mansions. How could a murder occur without everyone knowing until it is too late?
The residents of the Cross are prostitutes, bohemians, gangsters and our protagonist, Joan, who fancies her self as a writer of crime stories - almost unheard of for a women in those times.
The plot has many twists and turns. Were there three murders or only two? Certainly three dead bodies. Who is the murderer? Everyone is a suspect.
Damaged returned servicemen, gangsters in the world of prostitution and drugs, the rise of communism and the political turmoil of the times makes for a good read.
May 13, 2020
Thank you to Allen and Unwin for my copy.
Sadly, a day before I started this wonderful novel, Julian Leatherdale passed away.
This is my first Julian Leatherdale book and I really enjoyed it.
It does take a little while to get going, but it wasn't boring at all. Once the story picked up it was pretty fast paced and never a dull moment. The author has certainly done his research of Kings Cross, Sydney, the Harbour bridge, architecture and all the seedy details of life in "the Cross" in 1932.
It covers prostitution, drugs, partying, razor gangs, blackmail and even a pagan sex club. The writing is very descriptive without dragging on or being boring. I loved the characters and could picture them so clearly.
There were a couple of twists and surprises which made it a great book.
Sadly, a day before I started this wonderful novel, Julian Leatherdale passed away.
This is my first Julian Leatherdale book and I really enjoyed it.
It does take a little while to get going, but it wasn't boring at all. Once the story picked up it was pretty fast paced and never a dull moment. The author has certainly done his research of Kings Cross, Sydney, the Harbour bridge, architecture and all the seedy details of life in "the Cross" in 1932.
It covers prostitution, drugs, partying, razor gangs, blackmail and even a pagan sex club. The writing is very descriptive without dragging on or being boring. I loved the characters and could picture them so clearly.
There were a couple of twists and surprises which made it a great book.
April 15, 2021
A historical mystery novel, very closely based on the characters and urban geography of inner Sydney in the early 1930s. A grim era, with a lot of inequality, but also a spirit of bohemianism and creativity among writers and artists.
The story line was good, but I found the women characters a bit too obvious - more as they are seen by others, than how a woman really thinks and feels. However, the plot was excellent, and the rivalries of left and right, so strong at the time, are effectively conveyed.
After reading this novel, I looked up Julian Leatherdale, and was sorry to learn that we will have no more such novels. His death, from cancer, must be a sad loss to his family. He has left behind a real legacy in Australian crime writing.
The story line was good, but I found the women characters a bit too obvious - more as they are seen by others, than how a woman really thinks and feels. However, the plot was excellent, and the rivalries of left and right, so strong at the time, are effectively conveyed.
After reading this novel, I looked up Julian Leatherdale, and was sorry to learn that we will have no more such novels. His death, from cancer, must be a sad loss to his family. He has left behind a real legacy in Australian crime writing.
July 25, 2023
An exceptional work of historical fiction, this book is set in tumultuous Kings Cross in 1932. This part of Sydney is being gentrified - older mansions have already been turned into rooms for rent, now they are being knocked down to make room for swish apartment blocks for the wealthy. There is so much historical detail - the author is to be congratulated on his research. The detailed description of the opening of the Harbour Bridge, and the politics behind the bridge, brings the scene to life.
And the story? murder, brothels and crime with many unexpected twists. I loved it!
And the story? murder, brothels and crime with many unexpected twists. I loved it!
March 9, 2020
I really enjoyed this book! The characters were lively and interesting and I spent the whole time rethinking 'who dunnit' with all the twists. I like that it's a process of exploitation for the main character into her own self as well as the mystery. The post war setting seeps through and impacts the atmosphere of the characters world. Very enjoyable, and I am definitely going to read more books by Leatherdale.
May 21, 2020
I loved the history that was embedded in this book - not just the events and the politics of post-WW1 Australia but also the real characters that were touched on as the story progressed.
But what I didn't like was the irritating language (a middle class girl of the period would say "arsehole") and the random sex that the female lead has. Every time I started to get engrossed in the story, I'd be bumped out by these unbelievable elements.
I won't give the end away but really?!
But what I didn't like was the irritating language (a middle class girl of the period would say "arsehole") and the random sex that the female lead has. Every time I started to get engrossed in the story, I'd be bumped out by these unbelievable elements.
I won't give the end away but really?!
October 8, 2020
A little clunky, this historical crime romp through the Cross in the post Great War period is a twisty ride. With one challenge after another, the deaths of two prostitutes are entangled with the war, drug deals, feminism, communism, and somewhat anachronistically, the sexual revolution. This lack of historical fidelity in the attitudes of the characters makes for a more modern outlook, but somewhat dims the vivacity of the portrait of life in 1930s inner Sydney.
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