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Murder at the Galliano Club: A Prohibition historical fiction thriller
In 1926, thanks to Prohibition, it’s hard to find a beer in Lido, New York. But trouble is always on tap at the Galliano Club in this explosive start to the riveting Prohibition-era historical fiction crime series.
Winner, 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical
Social hub for the Italian immigrant community, the Galliano Club serves bootleg beer and Luca Lombardo’s signature sandwiches to workers from the city’s copper mills. The club means everything to Luca, who arrived in Lido with nothing left to lose.
He’ll do whatever it takes to keep the club afloat, even staying silent about a murder in the alley behind the building.
From her second-floor window, Ruth Cross witnessed the murder, but a scandalous past keeps her quiet.
Could gangster Benny Rotolo be involved? Run out of Chicago by Al Capone, he fled to Lido with a gun in his pocket and plans to establish his own bootlegging empire. He wants to turn the Galliano Club into his private speakeasy.
A collision between Luca and Benny is coming . . . Unless the killer gets there first.
Award-winning author Carmen Amato’s Galliano Club historical fiction thriller series is a heady brew of murder, ambition, and secrets. With sizzling relationships, authentic period details, and a cast of unforgettable characters, you’ll savor every drop of this page-turning saga.
Are you a fan of The Godfather, Road to Perdition, The Untouchables, or Boardwalk Empire? If you love historical fiction featuring Prohibition-era stories of Chicago gangsters, Italian mobsters, and bold bootleggers, you’ll love MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, the first novel in the series.
Click the BUY NOW button at the top and enter the Galliano Club today!
We saved a spot at the bar for you.
"The Galliano Club series promises to be as riveting as Amato’s previous novels set in Mexico. The Roaring Twenties in their uninhibited violence and excitement come alive . . . A sure hit with loyal fans and new readers alike." - Michael Hogan, author of Women of the Irish Rising
“A gripping thriller series that will immerse you in the gritty, violent world of America in the 1920s. Clawing their way through the tale are a host of desperate characters that will shock and amaze you, never allowing you to catch your breath until the jaw-dropping conclusion.” - Amanda Hughes, author of The Looking Glass Goddess and The Image Seeker
“Spot-on historic atmosphere as the compelling characters fight, dance, and gamble their way to the Galliano Club . . . An epic tale with all the glitz, danger and gritty charm of the era.” - L.A. Chandlar, award-winning author of the Art Deco Mystery Series
THE GALLIANO CLUB THRILLERS
ROAD TO THE GALLIANA PREQUEL
MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
Winner, 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical
Social hub for the Italian immigrant community, the Galliano Club serves bootleg beer and Luca Lombardo’s signature sandwiches to workers from the city’s copper mills. The club means everything to Luca, who arrived in Lido with nothing left to lose.
He’ll do whatever it takes to keep the club afloat, even staying silent about a murder in the alley behind the building.
From her second-floor window, Ruth Cross witnessed the murder, but a scandalous past keeps her quiet.
Could gangster Benny Rotolo be involved? Run out of Chicago by Al Capone, he fled to Lido with a gun in his pocket and plans to establish his own bootlegging empire. He wants to turn the Galliano Club into his private speakeasy.
A collision between Luca and Benny is coming . . . Unless the killer gets there first.
Award-winning author Carmen Amato’s Galliano Club historical fiction thriller series is a heady brew of murder, ambition, and secrets. With sizzling relationships, authentic period details, and a cast of unforgettable characters, you’ll savor every drop of this page-turning saga.
Are you a fan of The Godfather, Road to Perdition, The Untouchables, or Boardwalk Empire? If you love historical fiction featuring Prohibition-era stories of Chicago gangsters, Italian mobsters, and bold bootleggers, you’ll love MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, the first novel in the series.
Click the BUY NOW button at the top and enter the Galliano Club today!
We saved a spot at the bar for you.
"The Galliano Club series promises to be as riveting as Amato’s previous novels set in Mexico. The Roaring Twenties in their uninhibited violence and excitement come alive . . . A sure hit with loyal fans and new readers alike." - Michael Hogan, author of Women of the Irish Rising
“A gripping thriller series that will immerse you in the gritty, violent world of America in the 1920s. Clawing their way through the tale are a host of desperate characters that will shock and amaze you, never allowing you to catch your breath until the jaw-dropping conclusion.” - Amanda Hughes, author of The Looking Glass Goddess and The Image Seeker
“Spot-on historic atmosphere as the compelling characters fight, dance, and gamble their way to the Galliano Club . . . An epic tale with all the glitz, danger and gritty charm of the era.” - L.A. Chandlar, award-winning author of the Art Deco Mystery Series
THE GALLIANO CLUB THRILLERS
ROAD TO THE GALLIANA PREQUEL
MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
BLACKMAIL AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
REVENGE AT THE GALLIANO CLUB
- GenresHistorical FictionEbooks
354 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2022
60 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Carmen Amato
35 books383 followersCarmen Amato is the author of the Detective Emilia Cryz mystery series pitting the first female police detective in Acapulco against Mexico's cartels, corruption, and social inequality. Starting with Cliff Diver, the series is a 2-time winner of the Outstanding Series award from CrimeMasters of America and was hailed by National Public Radio as “A thrilling series.”
Her standalone thrillers include The Hidden Light of Mexico City, which was longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award.
A 30-year veteran of the CIA where she focused on technical collection and counterdrug issues, Carmen is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal.
A judge for the BookLife Prize and Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award, her essays have appeared in Criminal Element, Publishers Weekly, and other national publications. She writes the popular Mystery Ahead newsletter on Substack with her top secrets, exclusive excerpts and book reviews: https://mysteryahead.substack.com.
Originally from upstate New York, after years of globe-trotting she and her husband enjoy life in Tennessee. https://carmenamato.net/links
Her standalone thrillers include The Hidden Light of Mexico City, which was longlisted for the 2020 Millennium Book Award.
A 30-year veteran of the CIA where she focused on technical collection and counterdrug issues, Carmen is a recipient of both the National Intelligence Award and the Career Intelligence Medal.
A judge for the BookLife Prize and Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award, her essays have appeared in Criminal Element, Publishers Weekly, and other national publications. She writes the popular Mystery Ahead newsletter on Substack with her top secrets, exclusive excerpts and book reviews: https://mysteryahead.substack.com.
Originally from upstate New York, after years of globe-trotting she and her husband enjoy life in Tennessee. https://carmenamato.net/links
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 12, 2022
Carmen, you’ve done it again. I’ve read all your books and your new Galliano Club series surprised me. My favorite books that I’ve read in the past few years was your Emilia Cruz police procedural series set in Acapulco, but this new Galliano Club story has me begging for more. Never a dull chapter and as always you have done your background research making this an accurate look into prohibition history as well as a page burner drama.
Thanks from your loyal fan, Rex in SC.
Thanks from your loyal fan, Rex in SC.
November 5, 2022
Who killed Jimmy Zambrano and why??? Keep your account book close at all times!!! I enjoyed this story and recommend the book.
December 19, 2022
There's a satisfying magic to a well-told tale delivered by an author with a deft touch for delivering the details of the time and the place of a story that add depth, complexity and a been-there authenticity to the characters and the unfolding action.
And in Carmen Amato's Murder at The Galliano Club, the first in a series of Prohibition-era mysteries set in the fictional upstate New York mill town of Lido and centered on the Italian-owned bar and social club of the book's title, the magic may be quiet and subtle but it provides a rock-solid foundation for a story that's far more than a who-dun-it.
The book opens with what should be an un-adulterated moment of triumph for the working stiffs crowding the club and their cross-town Polish co-workers at the Lido Premium Copper and Brass Rolling Mill. They were minutes away from pulling off a monumental job, filling a huge order from a Boston shipyard in the 45 days the bosses set as a deadline for a $250 bonus promised to every worker provided the work was done without injury and that orders from other customers were also filled.
Bootleg beer and liquor flowed, food was gobbled down and a tense air of wary anticipation crackled across the club as the workers waited to hear the whistle ending the last shift of the day and official word that the deal was done, the provisos were met and the bonus money would soon line their pockets.
In walks Jimmy Zambrano, mill foreman, shaking hands like a politician. He jumps up on the table to deliver a message from the bosses. The deal was done, the men would get their bonus money. But not all at once. It would be paid out across three days, in alphabetical order.
An uproar ensues with workers suspecting management was welching on the deal -- even worse, that their Polish co-workers were about to get preferential treatment. Even Vito Spinelli, club owner and unofficial mayor of East Lido, the town's Italian enclave, smells a rat. Cooler heads prevail and help Zambrano sell the payout schedule, including Luca Lombardo, Spinelli's right-hand man and club manager.
The party cranks back up and keeps rolling until closing time.
Less than an hour later, Lombardo steps outside the back of the club and finds Zambrano's body partially stuffed under the frame of Vito Spinelli's Packard. The dead foreman has been garroted with copper wire that bit deeply into his neck.
That shifts the story into overdrive. Murder, blackmail, rum-running, intrigue and double-crossing treachery introduce a cascade of characters, including crooked Irish cops, a Chicago fugitive from Al Capone's gunsels, a larcenous blue-blood wannabe mill accountant, a fallen Broadway chorus girl with a horrible secret and a vivacious Irish bank employee who steals Lombardo's heart.
Splicing this all together is Amato's knowing eye for detail and intuitive feel for the temper of the times, the class divisions and the clannishness of immigrant communities struggling to make it in America.
Author of the Emilia Cruz mysteries, Amato was born and raised in Rome, New York, a stop on the Erie Canal and home to a copper mill that once accounted for 10 percent of the nation's finished product. And her grandfather was a sheriff's deputy during the Prohibition era.
But she doesn't use this knowledge to create a nostalgic air or spin a sepia-toned period piece. Instead, she builds a firm foundation for the story she wants to tell and the characters who come to life in the telling. It's a world worth exploring and a tale worth telling.
And in Carmen Amato's Murder at The Galliano Club, the first in a series of Prohibition-era mysteries set in the fictional upstate New York mill town of Lido and centered on the Italian-owned bar and social club of the book's title, the magic may be quiet and subtle but it provides a rock-solid foundation for a story that's far more than a who-dun-it.
The book opens with what should be an un-adulterated moment of triumph for the working stiffs crowding the club and their cross-town Polish co-workers at the Lido Premium Copper and Brass Rolling Mill. They were minutes away from pulling off a monumental job, filling a huge order from a Boston shipyard in the 45 days the bosses set as a deadline for a $250 bonus promised to every worker provided the work was done without injury and that orders from other customers were also filled.
Bootleg beer and liquor flowed, food was gobbled down and a tense air of wary anticipation crackled across the club as the workers waited to hear the whistle ending the last shift of the day and official word that the deal was done, the provisos were met and the bonus money would soon line their pockets.
In walks Jimmy Zambrano, mill foreman, shaking hands like a politician. He jumps up on the table to deliver a message from the bosses. The deal was done, the men would get their bonus money. But not all at once. It would be paid out across three days, in alphabetical order.
An uproar ensues with workers suspecting management was welching on the deal -- even worse, that their Polish co-workers were about to get preferential treatment. Even Vito Spinelli, club owner and unofficial mayor of East Lido, the town's Italian enclave, smells a rat. Cooler heads prevail and help Zambrano sell the payout schedule, including Luca Lombardo, Spinelli's right-hand man and club manager.
The party cranks back up and keeps rolling until closing time.
Less than an hour later, Lombardo steps outside the back of the club and finds Zambrano's body partially stuffed under the frame of Vito Spinelli's Packard. The dead foreman has been garroted with copper wire that bit deeply into his neck.
That shifts the story into overdrive. Murder, blackmail, rum-running, intrigue and double-crossing treachery introduce a cascade of characters, including crooked Irish cops, a Chicago fugitive from Al Capone's gunsels, a larcenous blue-blood wannabe mill accountant, a fallen Broadway chorus girl with a horrible secret and a vivacious Irish bank employee who steals Lombardo's heart.
Splicing this all together is Amato's knowing eye for detail and intuitive feel for the temper of the times, the class divisions and the clannishness of immigrant communities struggling to make it in America.
Author of the Emilia Cruz mysteries, Amato was born and raised in Rome, New York, a stop on the Erie Canal and home to a copper mill that once accounted for 10 percent of the nation's finished product. And her grandfather was a sheriff's deputy during the Prohibition era.
But she doesn't use this knowledge to create a nostalgic air or spin a sepia-toned period piece. Instead, she builds a firm foundation for the story she wants to tell and the characters who come to life in the telling. It's a world worth exploring and a tale worth telling.
March 26, 2023
The story is riveting and takes place in the 1926 prohibition era set in a mediocre town of New York state. It grabs you right from the start with its compelling realism and insightful characters. Workers fill their days at the local mill and spend nights and weekends drinking and playing cards at the popular Galliano Club managed by Luca Lombardo. A gangster named Benny Rotolo arrives fresh on the scene from Chicago and makes a deal with the mill's foreman. He then strongarms an accountant into joining his newly set-up organized crime unit to bootleg alcohol, the riskiest crime of those years. When Luca discovers an associate's body dead in an alley, he seeks help from a witness named Ruth Cross, she lives in the building aside it. Ruth is not whom she appears to be and is hiding a scarred, former life. Only Officer O'Malley knows, and he uses it to threaten her. Once a week he arrives at her apartment and forces himself on Ruth. The story grows from there with high-speed suspense, so complex the details add depth to the organized crime plot. The engaging characters are well written and live up to your expectations. Brilliantly crafted, I highly recommend this gritty historical thriller. From the first page to the last, Murder at the Galliano Club is one terrific read.
February 18, 2023
Really great book.
I never read any books in the Galliano Club series. I've always read Carmen's others. This was a fantastic book. I enjoyed the short chapters, and would three or four chapters before I had to stop.
After finishing the First,theirs no doubt I need the next great job Carmen. I've read all the Acapulco police series. Those were excellent.
I never read any books in the Galliano Club series. I've always read Carmen's others. This was a fantastic book. I enjoyed the short chapters, and would three or four chapters before I had to stop.
After finishing the First,theirs no doubt I need the next great job Carmen. I've read all the Acapulco police series. Those were excellent.
March 27, 2024
Good tale set circa prohibition. Enjoyed the society lines drawn via immigrants and the dynamics at the factory. Reminded me of my blue collar Ontario town and my father and his pals. Lots of characters coming at you so read it slow at the start. Read my novel The Rummrunner's Boy for more prohibition crime
May 30, 2025
Spot-on historic atmosphere as the compelling characters fight, dance, and gamble their way to the Galliano Club, the beginning of an epic tale with all the glitz, danger and gritty charm of the era. Loved it!
May 1, 2023
Lido NY during prohibition . Great story. Bootleggers,gangsters, murder. Lido based loosely on Rome NY Where the Galliano Club still exists today.
June 25, 2023
Very well written. Can’t wait to read the next book
March 30, 2024
A solid read
Prohibition in upstate New York, when the Irish were cops, the Slavs laborers, the Italians mobsters, and everyone was worried about the bolshevic menace
Prohibition in upstate New York, when the Irish were cops, the Slavs laborers, the Italians mobsters, and everyone was worried about the bolshevic menace
May 2, 2024
Very well written, well researched book with colorful characters and a compelling storyline from the turbulent times of the Prohibition.
October 26, 2025
Murder at the Galliano Club…such a wonderfully written historical mystery novel with vivid characters and loads of suspense. Even a touch of romance! You can’t beat a book written by a CIA agent!
September 20, 2023
Former CIA employee Carmen Amato, in the first of a three-book series, convincingly takes you back to 1926 Prohibition in the fictional city of Lido (based on her hometown of Rome, NY). She superbly captures a 1926 city populated by immigrant Italians, Poles, and Irish striving to find their way in America. Her characters--including hard-working Luca Lombardo, gentle giant Karol Dombrowski, Chicago gangster Benny Rotolo, and Vassar graduate Tess Kennedy--feel as real as imagined memories of 1926. When mill foreman Jimmy Zambrano, is found dead, his friends scramble to hide the body until . . .
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews