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Gilda Carr #3
Westside Lights
The Alienist meets the magical mystery of The Ninth House as W. M. Akers returns with the third book in his critically acclaimed Jazz Age fantasy series set in the dangerous Westside of New York City, following private detective Gilda Carr's hunt for the truth--one tiny mystery at a time.
The Westside of Manhattan is desolate, overgrown, and dangerous--and Gilda Carr wouldn't have it any other way. An eccentric detective whose pursuit of tiny mysteries has dragged her to the brink of madness, Gilda spends 1923 searching for something that's eluded her for peace. On the revitalized waterfront of the Lower West, Gilda and the gregarious ex-gangster Cherub Stevens start a new life on a stolen yacht. But their old life isn't done with them yet.
They dock their boat on the edge of the White Lights District, a new tenderloin where liquor, drugs, sex, and violence are shaken into a deadly cocktail. When her pet seagull vanishes into the District, Gilda throws herself into the search for the missing bird. Up late watching the river for her pet, Gilda has one drink too many and passes out in the cabin of her waterfront home.
She wakes to a massacre.
Eight people have been slaughtered on the deck of the Misery Queen, and Cherub is among the dead. Gilda, naturally, is the prime suspect. Hunted by the police, the mob, and everyone in between, she must stay free long enough to find the person who stained the Hudson with her beloved's blood. She will discover that on her Westside, no lights are bright enough to drive away the darkness.
The Westside of Manhattan is desolate, overgrown, and dangerous--and Gilda Carr wouldn't have it any other way. An eccentric detective whose pursuit of tiny mysteries has dragged her to the brink of madness, Gilda spends 1923 searching for something that's eluded her for peace. On the revitalized waterfront of the Lower West, Gilda and the gregarious ex-gangster Cherub Stevens start a new life on a stolen yacht. But their old life isn't done with them yet.
They dock their boat on the edge of the White Lights District, a new tenderloin where liquor, drugs, sex, and violence are shaken into a deadly cocktail. When her pet seagull vanishes into the District, Gilda throws herself into the search for the missing bird. Up late watching the river for her pet, Gilda has one drink too many and passes out in the cabin of her waterfront home.
She wakes to a massacre.
Eight people have been slaughtered on the deck of the Misery Queen, and Cherub is among the dead. Gilda, naturally, is the prime suspect. Hunted by the police, the mob, and everyone in between, she must stay free long enough to find the person who stained the Hudson with her beloved's blood. She will discover that on her Westside, no lights are bright enough to drive away the darkness.
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 8, 2022
18 people are currently reading
2221 people want to read
About the author
W.M. Akers
11 books267 followersW.M. Akers is a novelist, playwright, and game designer. He is the author of the mystery novels Critical Hit, Westside, and Westside Saints; the creator of the bestselling games Deadball: Baseball With Dice and Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG; and the curator of the history newsletter Strange Times. He lives in Philadelphia, but hasn’t traded in his Mets cap yet. Learn more about his work at wmakers.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 18, 2022
This series has been a lot of fun for me over the last few years, and the third entry didn’t disappoint. Gilda is a great character, but I think my favorite part is the alternate Jazz Age NYC setting, and more specifically the dangerous west side. This involves a mystery surrounding murders of Gilda’s friends and lover, and definitely feels like it has high stakes throughout. The series is so good, and I hope it keeps going.
April 5, 2022
This is the first book I’ve read in this intriguing, alternative-Earth, fantastical mystery series set in the Westside of Manhattan during the Jazz Age. That being said, I really didn’t have any issues reading it as a standalone.
The setting and premise are absolutely great: intriguing, mystical, vibrant, and obviously well-researched and then redeveloped into something wholly different than what Jazz Age New York was really like. The place where fantasy meets reality closest regarding this time and age in Westside Manhattan is socioeconomics, and I think that’s a very salient point, given the author’s overall plot arc and cast of characters.
Our protagonist, solver-of-tiny-mysteries, Gilda Carr, is fierce and irreverent. She may be our main character, but the whole cast of characters is nothing to frown upon (although, there are a lot of them). The dialogue is sharp, witty, and bright.
The pacing of this book is a little slower than I like (unless I’m in the mood for something a tad more cozy than a thriller or even suspense mystery), but it can definitely read close to a noir mystery, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Where Akers’ writing shines best is when he’s writing about New York itself, whether it be the elements closer to reality or the distinct elements that transform this New York into something from an alternative Earth.
The book is entirely worth checking out, as are the other two books before it. I love this influx of alternative Earth mysteries and fantasies focused on eras like the Jazz Age.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for early access to this title and a physical ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The setting and premise are absolutely great: intriguing, mystical, vibrant, and obviously well-researched and then redeveloped into something wholly different than what Jazz Age New York was really like. The place where fantasy meets reality closest regarding this time and age in Westside Manhattan is socioeconomics, and I think that’s a very salient point, given the author’s overall plot arc and cast of characters.
Our protagonist, solver-of-tiny-mysteries, Gilda Carr, is fierce and irreverent. She may be our main character, but the whole cast of characters is nothing to frown upon (although, there are a lot of them). The dialogue is sharp, witty, and bright.
The pacing of this book is a little slower than I like (unless I’m in the mood for something a tad more cozy than a thriller or even suspense mystery), but it can definitely read close to a noir mystery, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Where Akers’ writing shines best is when he’s writing about New York itself, whether it be the elements closer to reality or the distinct elements that transform this New York into something from an alternative Earth.
The book is entirely worth checking out, as are the other two books before it. I love this influx of alternative Earth mysteries and fantasies focused on eras like the Jazz Age.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for early access to this title and a physical ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
July 2, 2023
I am surprised at the number of reviews from folks who did not read the first two books. It's interesting because this one is pretty different from the others - because it contains gruesome murders. I felt immediately like Akers had run out of interesting things to do with the idea of tiny mysteries. This was just a different beast from the series so far and I wasn't enjoying it so I stopped reading. I'm glad I did, seeing that other reviewers characterize this as a horror novel and so on.
October 11, 2025
Sorry that there aren’t more books with the Enchanting Gilda Carr.
March 15, 2022
Originally published at Reading Reality
Westside is a place caught between “never was” and “might have been”. It’s a kind of road not taken made manifest in a world where “something” happened at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th that cleaved the west side of New York City away from not just the rest of the city – or even the rest of the country – but from reality itself.
Not completely. It is still possible to cross from one side to the other. But those crossings are regulated and controlled. There are fixed checkpoints between them. Because the shadowy darkness that looms over the Westside holds beasts and terrors that no one in the rest of the city wants to let slip through any cracks.
There are monsters on the Westside. Especially the two-legged kind that humans get reduced to when things get darkest – right before they turn completely black.
The first Westside story, simply titled Westside, was a surprise and a delight and a descent into darkness – all at the same time. The second book, Westside Saints – began with a real bang.
This third book, Westside Lights, begins with a whimper. It begins with Gilda Carr, solver of tiny mysteries, waking to the blood-soaked mess of a really big one. Leaving her to discover just who murdered all her friends and left her holding the quite literally bloody bag.
We start this story at seemingly the end. Gilda wakes up, everyone she’s been spending this strange, mysteriously light-saturated Westside summer with is dead all around her. As the only survivor of what looks like a massacre she is accused of the crime.
So she runs, intending to discover just who set her up to take this terrible fall – and turn it back on them before it’s too late for her.
But her search for the truth sees her examining the recent past, and the odd “miracle” that brought light back to the dark Westside – and tourists and pleasure seekers along with it.
Someone should have remembered that things that are too good to be true usually are, one bloody way or another. Especially in Westside.
Escape Rating A: Everything about the Westside is weird and weirdly fascinating. Also just weird. Did I say weird? The whole idea that part of NYC could just separate itself into another reality is weird, fascinating and a whole bunch of other bizarre things.
Even after three books we still don’t really know why it happened or how it happened, just that it did. And that the humans have self-sorted between the two sides – and even between the various criminal factions on the Westside itself since it happened.
But it’s every bit as complicated as it is fascinating. Which means that this series goes further down into the rabbit hole as it goes along. Meaning that Westside Lights is NOT the place to start. The place to start is Westside, where the reader gets introduced both to this place and to its denizens – especially Gilda Carr, that solver of tiny mysteries.
Tiny mysteries are the little things that make you wake up at 2 am – but aren’t so big that you won’t be able to get back to sleep. They’re niggling little questions that pop up at odd moments and just beg to be solved – even though the solution will have little to no effect on anything important.
Gilda solves tiny mysteries because she’s not crazy enough to pull at the threads of the big mysteries that lie under Westside. What makes these books so compelling is that no matter how much she tries to confine herself to the little things, she usually finds herself neck deep in the big things anyway.
Like Gilda’s previous “adventures” in this one she starts out investigating one thing – the death of the people she’s spent the summer with – and ends up looking into something entirely different. She starts out looking for a crazed, garden-variety murderer and ends up trying to figure out why the birds are dying.
But that’s part of Gilda’s charm, a charm that has carried her through three surprising adventures so far. I never expected this series to even BE a series, but I’m glad it is. And I’d love to follow Gilda as she solves as many “tiny” mysteries as she can find!
Westside is a place caught between “never was” and “might have been”. It’s a kind of road not taken made manifest in a world where “something” happened at the turn of the 19th century into the 20th that cleaved the west side of New York City away from not just the rest of the city – or even the rest of the country – but from reality itself.
Not completely. It is still possible to cross from one side to the other. But those crossings are regulated and controlled. There are fixed checkpoints between them. Because the shadowy darkness that looms over the Westside holds beasts and terrors that no one in the rest of the city wants to let slip through any cracks.
There are monsters on the Westside. Especially the two-legged kind that humans get reduced to when things get darkest – right before they turn completely black.
The first Westside story, simply titled Westside, was a surprise and a delight and a descent into darkness – all at the same time. The second book, Westside Saints – began with a real bang.
This third book, Westside Lights, begins with a whimper. It begins with Gilda Carr, solver of tiny mysteries, waking to the blood-soaked mess of a really big one. Leaving her to discover just who murdered all her friends and left her holding the quite literally bloody bag.
We start this story at seemingly the end. Gilda wakes up, everyone she’s been spending this strange, mysteriously light-saturated Westside summer with is dead all around her. As the only survivor of what looks like a massacre she is accused of the crime.
So she runs, intending to discover just who set her up to take this terrible fall – and turn it back on them before it’s too late for her.
But her search for the truth sees her examining the recent past, and the odd “miracle” that brought light back to the dark Westside – and tourists and pleasure seekers along with it.
Someone should have remembered that things that are too good to be true usually are, one bloody way or another. Especially in Westside.
Escape Rating A: Everything about the Westside is weird and weirdly fascinating. Also just weird. Did I say weird? The whole idea that part of NYC could just separate itself into another reality is weird, fascinating and a whole bunch of other bizarre things.
Even after three books we still don’t really know why it happened or how it happened, just that it did. And that the humans have self-sorted between the two sides – and even between the various criminal factions on the Westside itself since it happened.
But it’s every bit as complicated as it is fascinating. Which means that this series goes further down into the rabbit hole as it goes along. Meaning that Westside Lights is NOT the place to start. The place to start is Westside, where the reader gets introduced both to this place and to its denizens – especially Gilda Carr, that solver of tiny mysteries.
Tiny mysteries are the little things that make you wake up at 2 am – but aren’t so big that you won’t be able to get back to sleep. They’re niggling little questions that pop up at odd moments and just beg to be solved – even though the solution will have little to no effect on anything important.
Gilda solves tiny mysteries because she’s not crazy enough to pull at the threads of the big mysteries that lie under Westside. What makes these books so compelling is that no matter how much she tries to confine herself to the little things, she usually finds herself neck deep in the big things anyway.
Like Gilda’s previous “adventures” in this one she starts out investigating one thing – the death of the people she’s spent the summer with – and ends up looking into something entirely different. She starts out looking for a crazed, garden-variety murderer and ends up trying to figure out why the birds are dying.
But that’s part of Gilda’s charm, a charm that has carried her through three surprising adventures so far. I never expected this series to even BE a series, but I’m glad it is. And I’d love to follow Gilda as she solves as many “tiny” mysteries as she can find!
September 28, 2022
The weakest of the Westside novels to this point, Westside Lights is still a great trip through the broken, destitute, and disregarded 1920s Westside of New York City. At this point, Gilda is but a nub of a person, worn down and beaten. And this is the issue at the heart of Westside Lights, because as resilient as Gilda is in her "career", at the end of the day much of the novel is tied up in the will they/won't they she has with her on again off again love interest, Cherub. For a character so strong in her pursuit of uncovering not-so tiny mysteries, that she falls so apart in her personal life reads too similar to other male-penned female leads who present a strong facade but is just like every romantic female led trope.
This is not an attack on Akers in the slightest, because he tries to paint the male protagonist with the same brush but it doesn't work overall. I don't think it means the end of Gilda, Cherub, or the Westside series is called for. But if Akers is going to continue to feature strong-ish female leads, he has to do better in representing them as something other than love lorn when not detailing their actual strengths in the heat of action (it's a similar issue that is cropping up in Critical Hit, which is making that a slough of a read too).
This is not an attack on Akers in the slightest, because he tries to paint the male protagonist with the same brush but it doesn't work overall. I don't think it means the end of Gilda, Cherub, or the Westside series is called for. But if Akers is going to continue to feature strong-ish female leads, he has to do better in representing them as something other than love lorn when not detailing their actual strengths in the heat of action (it's a similar issue that is cropping up in Critical Hit, which is making that a slough of a read too).
March 2, 2022
I love fantasy and I love historical fiction. Mix them together and you just might have something. On the other hand, you just might not. This was sent to me as a readers copy for free and so I felt obligated to finish it. The beginning was excruciating slow, the middle was violent and gruesome for no purpose and the ending was a powerful as a stale marshmallow. I would not recommend this book but admittedly, I did not read books 1 or 2.
July 2, 2022
Westside Lights is the third in W.M. Akers series of historical urban fantasies set in an alternative 1920s New York City featuring Gilda Carr, amateur detective and solver of tiny mysteries.
This rounded out the trilogy well.
This rounded out the trilogy well.
August 22, 2022
https://openbooksociety.com/article/w...
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Review
After the events of Westside Saints, Gilda Carr and her lover Cherube have decided to take a well-deserved vacation to the riverside, live in a boat, and even get a pet seagull. After some months, the residents of the Eastside also decided to try and modernize the riverside of the Westside and fill it out with new lights, booze, and casinos. Among the Eastsiders that are staying at the riverside, Gilda and Cherub have become somewhat friends with a group of artists, a writer, a musician, and a play writer, among others.
After some weeks of constant late-night drinking, Gilda notices that her pet seagull has disappeared and the itch to go on a tiny mystery has started to come back, but she promised Cherub that she wouldn’t be taking cases for a while. One night, with a headache Gilda decides to stay in and sleep. Her writer friend Martina??? Comes to see her and gives her a new drink that is going around the riverside.
Gilda passes out and wakes up to the sound of something hitting the boat. When she manages to get up there, she finds a massacre of people. She cannot find Cherube anywhere but recognizes the remains of her friends and a warning on the sail implying that Cherub is also dead.
As Gilda tries to find help, she is instead accused of murder and the police is after her. Now, Gilda must escape from the police, follow the trail of dead birds, find out who killed Cherub, and get revenge.
I liked Westside Lights, it was great to get back into the world of parallel New York and see Gilda Carr solve tiny mysteries that keep getting bigger. While I like the series, when I read the summary of the book and what might happen to Gilda and Cherub I was a little hesitant to start reading, but my curiosity for a good mystery got the better of me and I was not let down.
It was nice to read more about Gilda and Cherub’s relationship and what they did after the events of the previous books. Even though Westside is a strange place and has a paranormal power, it’s still the 1920’s and it was not seen well for a man of color and a white woman to be dating, we get a bit of this fear in this book and their reluctance of both Gild and Cherub to leave the Westside or New York for a more normal place to leave.
Technology and the strange powers of the Westside are making great advances and the new light that adorns the riverside seems to have made the place look safer. But like many stories, it’s easy to not trust anything free and shiny and Gild makes that mistake. I had the question of what those lights were since they were first mentioned, and it was great finding out about them.
Many characters from the previous books make appearances in this new story, but we also get to meet new ones with their own secrets. Because of so many people to keep track of and their relationships with Gilda, it is best to give a quick re-read to the previous books just to be all caught up.
While the main mystery of the book is who killed Cherub and Gilda’s other friends, other tiny mysteries arise. It was very interesting to see how they are all interconnected, from a lost pencil to a missing seagull or the meaning behind a middle name initial. If you are a fan of W.M. Akers works, or the Gild Carr series, then I recommend Westside Lights. In this story, we follow Gilda as she has tried to change for the man she loves, but the itch for tiny mysteries is too much and sometimes you need to follow your gut when it tells you to find your pet seagull.
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Review
After the events of Westside Saints, Gilda Carr and her lover Cherube have decided to take a well-deserved vacation to the riverside, live in a boat, and even get a pet seagull. After some months, the residents of the Eastside also decided to try and modernize the riverside of the Westside and fill it out with new lights, booze, and casinos. Among the Eastsiders that are staying at the riverside, Gilda and Cherub have become somewhat friends with a group of artists, a writer, a musician, and a play writer, among others.
After some weeks of constant late-night drinking, Gilda notices that her pet seagull has disappeared and the itch to go on a tiny mystery has started to come back, but she promised Cherub that she wouldn’t be taking cases for a while. One night, with a headache Gilda decides to stay in and sleep. Her writer friend Martina??? Comes to see her and gives her a new drink that is going around the riverside.
Gilda passes out and wakes up to the sound of something hitting the boat. When she manages to get up there, she finds a massacre of people. She cannot find Cherube anywhere but recognizes the remains of her friends and a warning on the sail implying that Cherub is also dead.
As Gilda tries to find help, she is instead accused of murder and the police is after her. Now, Gilda must escape from the police, follow the trail of dead birds, find out who killed Cherub, and get revenge.
I liked Westside Lights, it was great to get back into the world of parallel New York and see Gilda Carr solve tiny mysteries that keep getting bigger. While I like the series, when I read the summary of the book and what might happen to Gilda and Cherub I was a little hesitant to start reading, but my curiosity for a good mystery got the better of me and I was not let down.
It was nice to read more about Gilda and Cherub’s relationship and what they did after the events of the previous books. Even though Westside is a strange place and has a paranormal power, it’s still the 1920’s and it was not seen well for a man of color and a white woman to be dating, we get a bit of this fear in this book and their reluctance of both Gild and Cherub to leave the Westside or New York for a more normal place to leave.
Technology and the strange powers of the Westside are making great advances and the new light that adorns the riverside seems to have made the place look safer. But like many stories, it’s easy to not trust anything free and shiny and Gild makes that mistake. I had the question of what those lights were since they were first mentioned, and it was great finding out about them.
Many characters from the previous books make appearances in this new story, but we also get to meet new ones with their own secrets. Because of so many people to keep track of and their relationships with Gilda, it is best to give a quick re-read to the previous books just to be all caught up.
While the main mystery of the book is who killed Cherub and Gilda’s other friends, other tiny mysteries arise. It was very interesting to see how they are all interconnected, from a lost pencil to a missing seagull or the meaning behind a middle name initial. If you are a fan of W.M. Akers works, or the Gild Carr series, then I recommend Westside Lights. In this story, we follow Gilda as she has tried to change for the man she loves, but the itch for tiny mysteries is too much and sometimes you need to follow your gut when it tells you to find your pet seagull.
March 9, 2022
I really genuinely wish that more people would get on board with this great series.
Is it a cozy mystery? I don’t think it is. Is it a cozy fantasy? I don’t think it is that either. Why do I keep calling this cozy in my weird little mind? Maybe it’s because the main character is truly trying to keep herself focused on “tiny mysteries” and yet consistently gets dragged into the largest scale troubles in return. It starts out cozy but ends up madcap and terrifyingly dangerous. This book in particular really feels like it ups the stakes early on and doesn’t really let go until the end. It is a doozy and completely enjoyable. I have to say, actually I’ve probably even said it before, but I am always happy to get an ARC for this series because they are just so consistently enjoyable. Come for the gilded age, jazz hot, crazy magical scene, stay for the (kinda) cozy mystery that might just be the death of our beloved heroine.
Don’t think I don’t know she would hate me for this, but I love Gilda’s spunky takes-no-nonsense attitude. While book one explored her relationship with her father, and the second book delved into the relationship with her mother, this third book forces her to really look more closely at herself and how she puts herself out there in the world. I love the progressive growth she has made across these novels. I have no idea if there are any plans for more books in this series, but I certainly hope so. I really want to keep reading about her.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley.
Is it a cozy mystery? I don’t think it is. Is it a cozy fantasy? I don’t think it is that either. Why do I keep calling this cozy in my weird little mind? Maybe it’s because the main character is truly trying to keep herself focused on “tiny mysteries” and yet consistently gets dragged into the largest scale troubles in return. It starts out cozy but ends up madcap and terrifyingly dangerous. This book in particular really feels like it ups the stakes early on and doesn’t really let go until the end. It is a doozy and completely enjoyable. I have to say, actually I’ve probably even said it before, but I am always happy to get an ARC for this series because they are just so consistently enjoyable. Come for the gilded age, jazz hot, crazy magical scene, stay for the (kinda) cozy mystery that might just be the death of our beloved heroine.
Don’t think I don’t know she would hate me for this, but I love Gilda’s spunky takes-no-nonsense attitude. While book one explored her relationship with her father, and the second book delved into the relationship with her mother, this third book forces her to really look more closely at herself and how she puts herself out there in the world. I love the progressive growth she has made across these novels. I have no idea if there are any plans for more books in this series, but I certainly hope so. I really want to keep reading about her.
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley.
March 12, 2022
The Westside of this alternate New York City 1923 is a wasteland of crooks, beggars and gin joints but it is also home to Gilda Carr, Private Detective. She is playing house with her ex-gangster lover Cherub and a one legged seagull on a houseboat when the bad catches up to them and Gilda finds herself in a pool of gore including those she cares about. Digging deeper into who committed the slaughter as strange mass deaths of birds and new drone lights, Gilda finds herself once again running from the law, the underworld and danger she doesn't even understand. This is a fully realized fantasy world that champions the underdog. There is nothing romantic about the underbelly of the Westside other than the rough characters with a heart of gold. Full of violence, corruption, witty dialogue and steampunk devices this is a wild ride for those fans of the other two books as well as readers who can't get enough of New York in the 20's or ferocious heroines like Beatriz William's Gin Kelly. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
February 23, 2022
Thanks to the author/publisher for the goodreads giveaway!!
My only complaint with this story is that I haven’t read the first two stories in the series. There are things about the world this story takes place in that I did not know/understand and I assume those things were explained in one of the first two stories. Fantasy is one of the genres I read the least, so I wouldn’t say this was good enough for me to run out and get the first two and start over, but I’m sure fantasy fans would love it.
Westside Lights itself was an interesting and easy read. It kept me intrigued and had enough non-fantasy to make me feel like I could relate to the characters and even their world somewhat. Not sure if this was intentional or not, but I found myself imagining enough of the story that it was almost like watching a movie: I had a steampunk-esque vision the entire story.
Gilda is just crazy enough to be interesting while being “boring” and flawed enough to seem real. Very well written!
My only complaint with this story is that I haven’t read the first two stories in the series. There are things about the world this story takes place in that I did not know/understand and I assume those things were explained in one of the first two stories. Fantasy is one of the genres I read the least, so I wouldn’t say this was good enough for me to run out and get the first two and start over, but I’m sure fantasy fans would love it.
Westside Lights itself was an interesting and easy read. It kept me intrigued and had enough non-fantasy to make me feel like I could relate to the characters and even their world somewhat. Not sure if this was intentional or not, but I found myself imagining enough of the story that it was almost like watching a movie: I had a steampunk-esque vision the entire story.
Gilda is just crazy enough to be interesting while being “boring” and flawed enough to seem real. Very well written!
February 20, 2022
** I read an advance reader copy of this book that I won in a Goodreads giveaway. **
I truly enjoyed this book. Even more than the first two installments in the series. I am also glad I read the previous books before this one because some of the intricacies of the world and some of the relationships between characters made much more sense having just read 'Westside' and 'Westside Saints' than they would have if I'd only read this book. (So, read all three of the Westside books, not just this one!) I'm not really sure what genre this book fits into. There's a bit of horror, a bit of fantasy and a lot of mystery with a historical bent. Wherever it fits, it's a quick and very enjoyable read with some amazing characters and a fun mystery (even if I had a pretty good idea what was causing the deaths early on in my reading) and an intriguing world. Definitely recommended!
I truly enjoyed this book. Even more than the first two installments in the series. I am also glad I read the previous books before this one because some of the intricacies of the world and some of the relationships between characters made much more sense having just read 'Westside' and 'Westside Saints' than they would have if I'd only read this book. (So, read all three of the Westside books, not just this one!) I'm not really sure what genre this book fits into. There's a bit of horror, a bit of fantasy and a lot of mystery with a historical bent. Wherever it fits, it's a quick and very enjoyable read with some amazing characters and a fun mystery (even if I had a pretty good idea what was causing the deaths early on in my reading) and an intriguing world. Definitely recommended!
March 12, 2022
Gilda Carr is back at it again! Except actually she isn’t! At the beginning of the book, she has taken a year off from her “tiny mysteries” and she is bumming around with her boyfriend on a boat & drinking and dancing every night with a group of “friends.” Until one morning, Gilda discovers all her friends dead (mutilated) on the boat, including her boyfriend Cherub. It looks like someone from Cherub’s past has caught up with him & enacted some awful revenge. Gilda is now on the case to find who did this & take her own bloody revenge.
So that’s the initial premise & I don’t want to spoil anything but the story ends up getting much more complicated & interesting than expected! Lots of fun characters & crazy places & events appear in the book. It’s a fun read! Another fun addition to the west side books!
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways but my review is my own.
So that’s the initial premise & I don’t want to spoil anything but the story ends up getting much more complicated & interesting than expected! Lots of fun characters & crazy places & events appear in the book. It’s a fun read! Another fun addition to the west side books!
I won this copy in one of the Goodreads giveaways but my review is my own.
February 18, 2022
This is a bizarre book in my opinion. Reading the summary I was excited, this is not a genre I normally read. However this book is all over the place. Crazy deaths-I will never look at a gull the same after this book or hamburger meat. I like horror, it's actually my favorite and have never read anything like what's in this. From the beginning there is a whole cast of characters to keep track of. Main character Gilda is crazy, love story with Cherub is realistic although he rises from the dead from so many scenes it's unbelievable. Idk this just wasn't one I enjoyed much. Finished it to see what happened to the nasty group at end. Passing this one on. I won this book in a goodreads giveaway thank you.
February 23, 2022
First I want to say thank you for the ARC that I received. I have to say that I believe in giving second chances and frankly I'm glad that I did. I have to say when I tried to read Westside I couldn't really get into it but this time it was different. I was able to follow this story line but I wish the author had listed the characters in the front because there were so many it got a little confusing and I had trouble keeping track of everybody but one thing is certain - I knew who Gilda was as well as Cherub. It was quite different but that is what fantasy is about - right? Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read something totally different. For those who enjoy something "totally different" this is the book for you.
April 13, 2022
In an alternate Jazz age there’s a part of New York where guns won’t fire and electricity won’t flow. But a year ago Westside Lights (hard from Harper Voyager). Gilda Carr, solver of small mysteries, has been living with her boy friend Cherub Stevens on a stolen Yacht and enjoying the new illegal night life. She started looking for a missing seagull. Then she wakes up one morning to a massive murder scene on her deck. Soon she is accused of murder and chased by the police, convinced Cherub’s body was at the murder scene. One hairy escape leads to another until finally the mystery is solved. This is a great mystery series.
February 13, 2023
A very good Act Three for Gilda Carr. Already on page one, she's different and her world is different. By the end of this book, she's been through a tremendous trial. The plot rockets along beautifully. I was emotional at the end.
I feel like the end of the end was a little off. It seemed like it was forced a tad. Also, I will admit that I had a hard time telling the characters apart. I never felt like I got to know most of them. So when they turned out to be evil, or secretly honorable, or a red herring, or dead...it didn't resonate like I wanted.
All that being said: the "Westside" series is one of my favorite book series I've read in years.
I feel like the end of the end was a little off. It seemed like it was forced a tad. Also, I will admit that I had a hard time telling the characters apart. I never felt like I got to know most of them. So when they turned out to be evil, or secretly honorable, or a red herring, or dead...it didn't resonate like I wanted.
All that being said: the "Westside" series is one of my favorite book series I've read in years.
June 28, 2023
*I received this book in a giveaway*
This is the 3rd book in a series and i won this book in a giveaway so I decided to read the other two first. Both were ok but not great so I didn't have high hopes for this one. I was pleasantly surprised! This is by FAR the strongest entry in this series. I enjoyed the characters and the plot much much more than the others. No spoilers so I won't go into the plot at all but I finally feel like I get the main character, Gilda Carr. It took 3 books but I really like her now. If there are other books in this series, I will give them a try. I don't necessarily think you need to read the first 2 books to understand this one. Recommended.
This is the 3rd book in a series and i won this book in a giveaway so I decided to read the other two first. Both were ok but not great so I didn't have high hopes for this one. I was pleasantly surprised! This is by FAR the strongest entry in this series. I enjoyed the characters and the plot much much more than the others. No spoilers so I won't go into the plot at all but I finally feel like I get the main character, Gilda Carr. It took 3 books but I really like her now. If there are other books in this series, I will give them a try. I don't necessarily think you need to read the first 2 books to understand this one. Recommended.
June 29, 2022
Goodreads ARC
I enjoyed my time reading Westside Lights. The book follows the journey of an amatuer detective of "tiny" mysteries as she fights to discover what is happening in her prohibition era NYC slum turned debaucherous escape for the afluent. There is murder, fighting, drinking, and an unfortunate doom threatening the district she calls home.
This is a fairly quick, fun, and easy read that is perfect for some laughs and excitement.
I enjoyed my time reading Westside Lights. The book follows the journey of an amatuer detective of "tiny" mysteries as she fights to discover what is happening in her prohibition era NYC slum turned debaucherous escape for the afluent. There is murder, fighting, drinking, and an unfortunate doom threatening the district she calls home.
This is a fairly quick, fun, and easy read that is perfect for some laughs and excitement.
July 5, 2022
Thank you to goodreads. This is the only book I have read in this series so at times I was a little confused but did find the entire fantasy concept quite intriguing. The characters were interesting but again could have used some more development for us newbies. The action was nonstop with a lot of violence, but this was intrinsic to the setting and story. Sci Fi fans would probably rate these books higher.
February 27, 2023
I enjoyed this one more that I thought I would. It was very much a Westside book. Gilda still makes choices that frustrate me, but it’s become part of her charm. There was a section where the audiobook performer flipped dialogue between Gilda and Cherub attributing one’s lines to the other, but it is easy enough to sort out. I wasn’t expecting the twist. Overall, well done. I’m hoping for more in this series.
July 10, 2023
Fantasy and detective combination -- wasn't sure if I was going to like it but proved to be intriguing. Gilda Carr is a detective in NYC in the 20's she solves small mysteries, this alone was different and her lover Cherub, they have lived on a stolen boat for the last year. Her pet Gull flies away and she tries to find her but stumbles into what is killing all the birds and then what is making everyone sick.
February 25, 2022
The main character, Gilda, I found was all over the place. Not a stable character at all. The story was about lights that were making people sick and the birds sick. It was really hard to believe most of it. Although it was very well written and very readable, I just couldn't really fall in love with most of it.
February 26, 2022
This is not my usual genre of choice, but I received an ARC and decided to give it a try. I was hoping there would be more about the time period I could relate to after reading the “blurb”. I am assuming some of my difficulties understanding the book are because it was the third in a series. Nevertheless, I can see where it would be a great book for fantasy lovers.
March 6, 2022
A haunting detective tale with action packed twisted situations abound. The protagonist is the true definition of noir on two legs. She lives a unpredictable, battled warrior queen existence. This easy to read page turner is hard to put down. As a reader you want the answers to riddle more that the heroine. And when the pieces come together it will still leave you slack jawed. Great tale!
May 26, 2022
I love Akers' mash-up of detective story with alternative timeline. This one finds Gilda Car on a boat with her long-term boyfriend. Then she awakens one morning to find all the guests that she had on deck are dead. Not just dead--chopped to bits. Which Westside crime lord accountable? Or is it someone else entirely?
June 10, 2023
When I started this, I didn't realize it was third in a series. Regardless, it holds up as a standalone. I really liked the relationship between Gilda and Cherub. All the elements of this book come down to a murder mystery at heart. The story really pulled me in until the end when the events on the Misery Queen were solved. After that, it got kind of stale.
September 28, 2023
Like an idiot I had bought the middle book of the series a long time ago and it looked so good I held onto it until I found the other two books real cheap. The first book was sooooo bad that I cannot bring myself to read the next two books. Off they go to my cousin in Florida to pass them along to some unexpecting soul (at least if they hate them also, they didn't have to pay for them).
March 24, 2022
I won this book in a HarperVoyager giveaway, so I bought the first two books in the series to read also. I enjoyed Westside, liked Westside Saints and loved Westside Lights. Gilda Carr is a treasure, along with her love for Cherub Stevens. Please write more books of Westside.
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