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A Crime of Secrets
Lambda Literary Award-winning author introduces readers to the crime-fighting duo of Fin Donner and Devorah Longstreet—Lovers. Investigators. Women ahead of their time.
New York City, 1899—a city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.
When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.
Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.
New York City, 1899—a city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.
When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.
Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.
242 pages, Paperback
Published July 4, 2023
1 person is currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Ann Aptaker
18 books31 followersNative New Yorker Ann Aptaker has earned a reputation as a respected if cheeky exhibition designer and curator of art during her career in museums and galleries. Taking the approach that what art authorities find uncomfortable the public would likely enjoy, exhibitions Ann has curated have garnered favorable reviews in the New York Times, Art in America, American Art Review, and other publications.
She brings the same attitude and philosophy to her first love: writing, especially a tangy variety of historical crime fiction. Ann’s short stories have appeared in two editions (2003 and 2004) of the noir crime anthology Fedora. Her flash fiction story, “A Night In Town,” appeared in the online zine Punk Soul Poet. In addition to curating and designing art exhibitions and writing crime stories, Ann is also an art writer and an adjunct professor of art history at the New York Institute of Technology. (from the publisher's website)
She brings the same attitude and philosophy to her first love: writing, especially a tangy variety of historical crime fiction. Ann’s short stories have appeared in two editions (2003 and 2004) of the noir crime anthology Fedora. Her flash fiction story, “A Night In Town,” appeared in the online zine Punk Soul Poet. In addition to curating and designing art exhibitions and writing crime stories, Ann is also an art writer and an adjunct professor of art history at the New York Institute of Technology. (from the publisher's website)
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2023
New York City in the nineteenth century can be a cruel place to live . Abject poverty reigns over the lower classes while the wealthy ignore them. Corruption, murder and mayhem rules the day.
Fin Donner came from the impoverished docks area and was forced to take care of herself. She fell in love with Devorah Longstreet from one of the upper crust families. Together they combined their talents and opened an investigation service.
Aptaker recreates 1899 New York in all its industrial grime and societal rot. This intriguing mystery has Fin and Devorah scrambling through each strata of society in order to find their killer. Their personal backgrounds slowly emerge through the finding of clues. The mystery is a well done who done it with clever red herrings, one of which I fell for until the reveal at the end.
My only complaint to bring this five out of five star novel to four stars is the repetition of facts about the mystery and about the two main characters. Other than this, if you enjoy your mystery challenging A Crime of Secrets is for you.
I received an advance review copy from Bywater Books and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Fin Donner came from the impoverished docks area and was forced to take care of herself. She fell in love with Devorah Longstreet from one of the upper crust families. Together they combined their talents and opened an investigation service.
Aptaker recreates 1899 New York in all its industrial grime and societal rot. This intriguing mystery has Fin and Devorah scrambling through each strata of society in order to find their killer. Their personal backgrounds slowly emerge through the finding of clues. The mystery is a well done who done it with clever red herrings, one of which I fell for until the reveal at the end.
My only complaint to bring this five out of five star novel to four stars is the repetition of facts about the mystery and about the two main characters. Other than this, if you enjoy your mystery challenging A Crime of Secrets is for you.
I received an advance review copy from Bywater Books and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
December 3, 2023
I came for the sights, sounds, and scents of an earlier New York, and that’s what I got. Chock-full. Thank you for it. Great read.
July 13, 2023
A grand, brilliant celebration of New York‘s and LGBT history
If you are into historical fiction: Get this book right away. It is brilliant, brilliant and … brilliant.
Right from the very start, the very first sentences, the very first chapter the stunning and accomplished prose of Ann Aptaker enthralled me and transported me back into the year 1899, back to the beauty and the underbelly of New York. Let me share the start which already hints at the dichotomy:
„A brilliant afternoon in New York‘s Madison Square Park, a brilliant, sparkling spring afternoon. Water dances on the tiers of the fountain, droplets glitter in the sunlight. Colorful parasols gripped gracefully in the gloved hands of strolling woman are suffused with sunshine, the colored light dappling the women‘s cheeks. The sun catches, too, the innocent glint in young girls‘s eyes, and the not-so-innocent glint in the eyes of roguish men who linger along the paths.“
It is a stroke of genius that Aptaker is teaming up Fin (Finegan) Donner who grew up at the docks in the roughest neighborhood of New York, and former socialite Devorah Longstreet. Fin who knows and can navigate the underbelly because she is a product of it and on the other hand well-bred, upperclass Devorah who knows all about the varnish of beauty and its undercurrents. They are an unlikely couple at a time where those relations were shunned and an unlikely investigative team. But their backgrounds are uniquely suited to find the truth when a murder is brought to their door. Because the course of investigation needs them to navigate the criminal underbelly, the corrupt police as well as those who draw the strings from their immaculate mansions.
It is amazing how Aptaker stitches those threads together and immerses the reader into the times and mores: It is a technicolor, Oscar-worthy journey back in time. What brilliant research Aptaker brings to fruition in this novel! She never falters during the unfolding of the book (kudos as well to the editor and proofreader!).
The use of language is a nerd-fest in itself. The right terminology, the right wording, the right tone - I could hear the vernacular of the docks, the snooty upperclass accents (will there be an audiobook?).
A delight to savor. Fortunately it is „only“ the start of the Donner and Longstreet Mysteries. Can‘t wait for more.
Watch out: Aptaker won Goldies and a Lambda Literary award for her „Gold“-series. The new Donner&Longstreet series starts right now with a bang and will be a serious contender for the awards in 2024.
Talk about serendipity: I won this book in a give-away on FB.
If you are into historical fiction: Get this book right away. It is brilliant, brilliant and … brilliant.
Right from the very start, the very first sentences, the very first chapter the stunning and accomplished prose of Ann Aptaker enthralled me and transported me back into the year 1899, back to the beauty and the underbelly of New York. Let me share the start which already hints at the dichotomy:
„A brilliant afternoon in New York‘s Madison Square Park, a brilliant, sparkling spring afternoon. Water dances on the tiers of the fountain, droplets glitter in the sunlight. Colorful parasols gripped gracefully in the gloved hands of strolling woman are suffused with sunshine, the colored light dappling the women‘s cheeks. The sun catches, too, the innocent glint in young girls‘s eyes, and the not-so-innocent glint in the eyes of roguish men who linger along the paths.“
It is a stroke of genius that Aptaker is teaming up Fin (Finegan) Donner who grew up at the docks in the roughest neighborhood of New York, and former socialite Devorah Longstreet. Fin who knows and can navigate the underbelly because she is a product of it and on the other hand well-bred, upperclass Devorah who knows all about the varnish of beauty and its undercurrents. They are an unlikely couple at a time where those relations were shunned and an unlikely investigative team. But their backgrounds are uniquely suited to find the truth when a murder is brought to their door. Because the course of investigation needs them to navigate the criminal underbelly, the corrupt police as well as those who draw the strings from their immaculate mansions.
It is amazing how Aptaker stitches those threads together and immerses the reader into the times and mores: It is a technicolor, Oscar-worthy journey back in time. What brilliant research Aptaker brings to fruition in this novel! She never falters during the unfolding of the book (kudos as well to the editor and proofreader!).
The use of language is a nerd-fest in itself. The right terminology, the right wording, the right tone - I could hear the vernacular of the docks, the snooty upperclass accents (will there be an audiobook?).
A delight to savor. Fortunately it is „only“ the start of the Donner and Longstreet Mysteries. Can‘t wait for more.
Watch out: Aptaker won Goldies and a Lambda Literary award for her „Gold“-series. The new Donner&Longstreet series starts right now with a bang and will be a serious contender for the awards in 2024.
Talk about serendipity: I won this book in a give-away on FB.
July 31, 2023
Real Rating: 4.5* of five
The Publisher Says: New York City, 1899.
A city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.
When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.
Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Sapphic sleuths in Gilded Age Manhattan? ANN APTAKER penned?! Sign me right the *bleep* up! Do I particularly care whose murder this concerns? Nope! I want the pleasure of watching as Author Aptaker upends the worldview of the hoi polloi with two people who decline to participate in their tedious little black-or-white, top-or-bottom nuanceless tosh.
That, comme d'habitude, she does. *happy sigh*
A new historical fiction crime series is always a welcome development for me.I like the QUILTBAG worlds that they inhabit to come back alive and crack the false front of heteronormative society's homogeneity without our homosexuality into flinders. Author Aptaker has done this before with the Cantor Gold Crimes series in New York's pre-Stonewall art world. They're refreshingly nonconformist and still part of the long mystery novel tradition of upholding ma'at.
I don't use "law and order" here, because cruel, immoral laws are passed daily all over the world, and vicious repressive order maintained by the small-souled pursey-lipped fear-driven fools that abound in every single time period of human history. Ma'at means something altogether more agreeable to me (and I suspect to most others): The rightness and fitness of things in the world; the always joyous sense of your world running well. Ma'at herself is the center of the Afterlife as the one who weighs the dead person's heart against her feather; if the heart is heavier than the feather, that person is utterly expunged; is prevented thereby from participating in an eternal existence of harmony and pleasure. I wonder often how many righteous crusaders for Truth God and Justice will pass this test....
Certainly the outwardly, conformally Proper and Good Citizens in this story won't. How this series will take that inner-vs-outer duality ball and run with it is set up with clarity and simplicity in the choice of main charcters. Fin and Dev are from wildly different milieux, one a rough-and-tumble survivor of the wild and violent streets and the other a Lady of Quality. Very much like Nick and Nora, Author Aptaker's couple are beautifully suited in ways they continue to discover as their time together expands and their experience of each other's kindness and blindness deepens. In this initial outing, the glossy surfaces are just not quite ever matched by smooth underpinnings. Rough exteriors can, and most likely will, smooth out. Long-unquestioned shibboleths fall, leaving no thick coatings of dust just light blurrings of their outlines. It's a gift to be allowed to see a character's growth instead of meeting them fully formed here in the first book. Well chosen, Author Aptaker!
The web of lies and vileness that Fin and Dev unravel in 1899 Manhattan is nothing if not relevant to today's world where misery is considered the proper condition of the poor, the disabled, the Other. The horrible perpetuators of that misery appall and offend these upright people, who subscribe to the ma'at I described above. The fact that they come at it from very different starting points gives rise to some of the most relatable conflicts in the story: Dev feels, for example, the ugly gnaw of jealousy; Fin the hollowness of insecurity. These being inevitable in any long-term relationship, it's good to see them here, and see them seen off by the women...together.
What I most needed on a hot July weekend when going outside was, for multiple reasons, not a great idea. It kept me engaged in, interested by, rooting for, our ma'at-maintaining duo. There's not a lot stronger recommendation I can give you.
The Publisher Says: New York City, 1899.
A city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.
When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.
Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Sapphic sleuths in Gilded Age Manhattan? ANN APTAKER penned?! Sign me right the *bleep* up! Do I particularly care whose murder this concerns? Nope! I want the pleasure of watching as Author Aptaker upends the worldview of the hoi polloi with two people who decline to participate in their tedious little black-or-white, top-or-bottom nuanceless tosh.
That, comme d'habitude, she does. *happy sigh*
A new historical fiction crime series is always a welcome development for me.I like the QUILTBAG worlds that they inhabit to come back alive and crack the false front of heteronormative society's homogeneity without our homosexuality into flinders. Author Aptaker has done this before with the Cantor Gold Crimes series in New York's pre-Stonewall art world. They're refreshingly nonconformist and still part of the long mystery novel tradition of upholding ma'at.
I don't use "law and order" here, because cruel, immoral laws are passed daily all over the world, and vicious repressive order maintained by the small-souled pursey-lipped fear-driven fools that abound in every single time period of human history. Ma'at means something altogether more agreeable to me (and I suspect to most others): The rightness and fitness of things in the world; the always joyous sense of your world running well. Ma'at herself is the center of the Afterlife as the one who weighs the dead person's heart against her feather; if the heart is heavier than the feather, that person is utterly expunged; is prevented thereby from participating in an eternal existence of harmony and pleasure. I wonder often how many righteous crusaders for Truth God and Justice will pass this test....
Certainly the outwardly, conformally Proper and Good Citizens in this story won't. How this series will take that inner-vs-outer duality ball and run with it is set up with clarity and simplicity in the choice of main charcters. Fin and Dev are from wildly different milieux, one a rough-and-tumble survivor of the wild and violent streets and the other a Lady of Quality. Very much like Nick and Nora, Author Aptaker's couple are beautifully suited in ways they continue to discover as their time together expands and their experience of each other's kindness and blindness deepens. In this initial outing, the glossy surfaces are just not quite ever matched by smooth underpinnings. Rough exteriors can, and most likely will, smooth out. Long-unquestioned shibboleths fall, leaving no thick coatings of dust just light blurrings of their outlines. It's a gift to be allowed to see a character's growth instead of meeting them fully formed here in the first book. Well chosen, Author Aptaker!
The web of lies and vileness that Fin and Dev unravel in 1899 Manhattan is nothing if not relevant to today's world where misery is considered the proper condition of the poor, the disabled, the Other. The horrible perpetuators of that misery appall and offend these upright people, who subscribe to the ma'at I described above. The fact that they come at it from very different starting points gives rise to some of the most relatable conflicts in the story: Dev feels, for example, the ugly gnaw of jealousy; Fin the hollowness of insecurity. These being inevitable in any long-term relationship, it's good to see them here, and see them seen off by the women...together.
What I most needed on a hot July weekend when going outside was, for multiple reasons, not a great idea. It kept me engaged in, interested by, rooting for, our ma'at-maintaining duo. There's not a lot stronger recommendation I can give you.
July 19, 2023
Ann Aptaker manages to give her reading audience an alluring, well-crafted sapphic historical mystery each and every time she steps up to the plate. Cantor Gold, dapper butch extraordinaire, has entertained readers since she hit the lesbian historical mystery scene nearly ten years ago, but it now appears Aptaker has upped her game and given readers one more to enjoy. Her latest butch has everything this genre could ask for. Fin Donner is a tough, street-smart, brassy butch that can more than stand on her own and fans are going to love her.
Fin Donner isn’t all the readers get inside the pages of A Crime of Secrets though. They get Devorah Longstreet, a classy, refined former New York socialite. She adds an elegance and sparkle to this well-scripted narrative like no other. From the storytelling to the character development, it’s all just shinier with her at Fin’s side. Together these two run a successful detective business, Donner & Longstreet Inquiries. Though considered busybodies by some, their crime sleuthing still earns them enough for a cozy home near Gramercy Park, certainly nothing to sneeze at for two women in 1899.
Though Devorah and Fin’s love for one another plays a key role in the narrative, this story is not a romance by true definition. Aptaker uses their partnership to further the storytelling, to give it vivid color and texture. Not only that, it gives the story context and backstory, something solid to stand on. With one woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth and the other scraping on the streets as a youth to survive, their life experiences provide a gateway for compelling reading. Their unique backstories provide insight and understanding to character motivations, choices and behaviors. Overall, it’s effective story crafting and allows readers to connect with the narrative emotionally, a must for story investment.
It would be a real disservice to Aptaker’s work not to discuss the writing in and of itself. A Crime of Secrets is exceptionally well written. Aptaker’s strong, effective prose pulls readers in from the get-go. Throughout the story, they continue to be entranced. Her vivid language and rhythm produces a distinct style, one that facilitates accuracy and credibility. She shows with her words; she doesn’t tell. Her approach paves the way for a real and immersive reading experience, one that’s hard to walk away from.
Final remarks…
This well-written gilded age mystery will captivate readers with its compelling characters and intriguing storyline. The narrative is well balanced and vivid, creating an engaging reading experience. By incorporating unexpected twists, conflicts and emotional arcs, Aptaker easily works to keep readers engaged and eager to uncover the fate of the A Crime of Secrets’s characters.
Strengths…
Complex and multidimensional characters
Evocative prose and descriptive imagery
Engaging, intriguing plot
Authentic historical setting
Dynamic reading experience
Fin Donner isn’t all the readers get inside the pages of A Crime of Secrets though. They get Devorah Longstreet, a classy, refined former New York socialite. She adds an elegance and sparkle to this well-scripted narrative like no other. From the storytelling to the character development, it’s all just shinier with her at Fin’s side. Together these two run a successful detective business, Donner & Longstreet Inquiries. Though considered busybodies by some, their crime sleuthing still earns them enough for a cozy home near Gramercy Park, certainly nothing to sneeze at for two women in 1899.
Though Devorah and Fin’s love for one another plays a key role in the narrative, this story is not a romance by true definition. Aptaker uses their partnership to further the storytelling, to give it vivid color and texture. Not only that, it gives the story context and backstory, something solid to stand on. With one woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth and the other scraping on the streets as a youth to survive, their life experiences provide a gateway for compelling reading. Their unique backstories provide insight and understanding to character motivations, choices and behaviors. Overall, it’s effective story crafting and allows readers to connect with the narrative emotionally, a must for story investment.
It would be a real disservice to Aptaker’s work not to discuss the writing in and of itself. A Crime of Secrets is exceptionally well written. Aptaker’s strong, effective prose pulls readers in from the get-go. Throughout the story, they continue to be entranced. Her vivid language and rhythm produces a distinct style, one that facilitates accuracy and credibility. She shows with her words; she doesn’t tell. Her approach paves the way for a real and immersive reading experience, one that’s hard to walk away from.
Final remarks…
This well-written gilded age mystery will captivate readers with its compelling characters and intriguing storyline. The narrative is well balanced and vivid, creating an engaging reading experience. By incorporating unexpected twists, conflicts and emotional arcs, Aptaker easily works to keep readers engaged and eager to uncover the fate of the A Crime of Secrets’s characters.
Strengths…
Complex and multidimensional characters
Evocative prose and descriptive imagery
Engaging, intriguing plot
Authentic historical setting
Dynamic reading experience
July 1, 2023
‘Lovers. Investigators. Women ahead of their time’ - A Gilded Age mystery series opens!
New York author Ann Aptaker has received awards from both Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Society for her popular series CANTOR GOLD. She also pens short stories that have been published in crime series in Fedora, Switchblade Magazine, and the Mickey Finn crime anthology among others. She has served as a curator for museums and galleries and now is an art writer for various New York clients.
Opening a new series - Donner and Longstreet Mysteries - in the very late 19th century allows the author to demonstrate her creative gifts as an artist, writing, in 1899, ‘A brilliant afternoon in New York’s Madison Square Park, a brilliant, sparkling spring afternoon. Water dances on the tiers of the fountain, droplets glitter in the sunlight. Colorful parasols gripped gracefully in the gloved hands of strolling women are suffused with sunshine, the colored light dappling the women’s cheeks. The sun catches, too, the innocent glint in young girls’ eyes, and the not -so-innocent glint in the eyes of roguish men who linger along the paths…[all the strollers]…have seen nothing of the vile murder nearby that moments ago took the life of a young girl whose pale blue eyes saw her own blood spew through the air in the arc of death, whose skin felt her warm blood soak her lacy blue dress. She never saw the face or hands of he monster who killed her.’ A murder to be solved!
Ann Aptaker’s prose is at once eloquent and visceral - not an easy achievement - and in placing a murder before the reader in the Prologue, she opens the curtain for the introduction of a fine team of private agents to investigate: apparent opposites, street smart Fin Donner and socialite Devorah Longstreet - the titular captivating lesbian characters of the series. Pungent, street smart, and rich in character development and mystery weaving, this is a novel that captures the imagination and escorts the reader on one fine and stylish mystery ride. Highly recommended.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book
New York author Ann Aptaker has received awards from both Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Society for her popular series CANTOR GOLD. She also pens short stories that have been published in crime series in Fedora, Switchblade Magazine, and the Mickey Finn crime anthology among others. She has served as a curator for museums and galleries and now is an art writer for various New York clients.
Opening a new series - Donner and Longstreet Mysteries - in the very late 19th century allows the author to demonstrate her creative gifts as an artist, writing, in 1899, ‘A brilliant afternoon in New York’s Madison Square Park, a brilliant, sparkling spring afternoon. Water dances on the tiers of the fountain, droplets glitter in the sunlight. Colorful parasols gripped gracefully in the gloved hands of strolling women are suffused with sunshine, the colored light dappling the women’s cheeks. The sun catches, too, the innocent glint in young girls’ eyes, and the not -so-innocent glint in the eyes of roguish men who linger along the paths…[all the strollers]…have seen nothing of the vile murder nearby that moments ago took the life of a young girl whose pale blue eyes saw her own blood spew through the air in the arc of death, whose skin felt her warm blood soak her lacy blue dress. She never saw the face or hands of he monster who killed her.’ A murder to be solved!
Ann Aptaker’s prose is at once eloquent and visceral - not an easy achievement - and in placing a murder before the reader in the Prologue, she opens the curtain for the introduction of a fine team of private agents to investigate: apparent opposites, street smart Fin Donner and socialite Devorah Longstreet - the titular captivating lesbian characters of the series. Pungent, street smart, and rich in character development and mystery weaving, this is a novel that captures the imagination and escorts the reader on one fine and stylish mystery ride. Highly recommended.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book
April 2, 2024
I want to enthuse a little about Ann Aptaker's A Crime of Secrets. It's a ripping good detective story, with all the good stuff: murder, powerful fiends, clever criminals. And of course two brilliant women who are very, VERY in love.
It's a great NYC story too, full of historical flavor and facts. It takes place in 1899 and moves all over Manhattan. The author did a lot of research.
I have a few... questions... about details of the story (their bribes for information were, when adjusted for inflation, confusingly high). But mostly I just enjoyed it.
- butch/femme
- established couple
- former poor/former rich MCs (currently comfortable)
- no relationship angst
- on-page kissing only (allusions to a great deal of passion off page)
- CW for off-page descriptions of brutal violence against women, violence against children, sex slavery. A lot of period-appropriate homophobia.
It's a great NYC story too, full of historical flavor and facts. It takes place in 1899 and moves all over Manhattan. The author did a lot of research.
I have a few... questions... about details of the story (their bribes for information were, when adjusted for inflation, confusingly high). But mostly I just enjoyed it.
- butch/femme
- established couple
- former poor/former rich MCs (currently comfortable)
- no relationship angst
- on-page kissing only (allusions to a great deal of passion off page)
- CW for off-page descriptions of brutal violence against women, violence against children, sex slavery. A lot of period-appropriate homophobia.
January 16, 2024
A Crime of Secrets by Ann Aptaker is a delightful, gothic adventure through the dark underbelly of New York City circa 1899. Two sleuths, Fin Donner and Devorah Longstreet, women that happen to be lovers, are tasked with the mysterious murder of a young respectable woman. Seemingly no one wants the case, and certainly not the lead police detective. Someone is being protected - but who and why? Aptaker keeps you guessing in this lusty page turner, all the way to the end.
July 15, 2023
An excellent and gripping historical mystery that talks about a murder but also a part of LGBT story.
Well plotted, entertaining and gripping. A solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I liked the characters and hope to read other novel in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Well plotted, entertaining and gripping. A solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I liked the characters and hope to read other novel in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
December 2, 2023
A captivating read which immerses the reader in an intriguing mystery with dramatic twists and surprising outcomes! I loved how the prose, setting and characters drew me in. Fin and Dev are an established sapphic couple, fully realized as individuals but complementing each other to form a brilliant investigating team.
April 25, 2025
I really loved this book! It was very atmospheric. I loved the characters. I hope the writer continues this series.
September 3, 2023
Firstly, I could not wait for this book to come out. I’m a huge fan of Ann Aptaker’s Cantor Gold series and I was so excited for this book and it didn’t disappoint.
This book is a definite departure from the Cantor Gold series in that it’s softer, but still has the lush ambience of the time period. And of course the colorful way in which Ann writes.
This book features Finn Donner and Devorah Longstreet. What I loved about these two is how well they get along and work together. They run a detective agency but they’re also partners in love. The easy banter between them as they work to solve a mystery was rather fun. This being because they each come from very different worlds.
Finn grew up in a children’s home, often abused, as well as on the streets of NY. She’s tough, takes no prisoners and knows how to work the underworld. Devorah, on the other hand, grew up in a wealthy home and was brought up to be a lady. What’s delicious about these two are that Finn, while having that background, dresses like a proper gent. She speaks very well and knows how to be in both the streets and in higher society. Devorah, on the other hand, who you’d expect to be uncomfortable on the dark side, is very comfortable. In fact, in some cases she’s more assertive and easy with doing what needs to be done to get the info she needs, including mixing with not good people and calling out her own family, who have disowned her. I loved this.
Of course this is a mystery and on that level it’s very well done and moves at a good pace. I’m looking for the next one in the series.
This book is a definite departure from the Cantor Gold series in that it’s softer, but still has the lush ambience of the time period. And of course the colorful way in which Ann writes.
This book features Finn Donner and Devorah Longstreet. What I loved about these two is how well they get along and work together. They run a detective agency but they’re also partners in love. The easy banter between them as they work to solve a mystery was rather fun. This being because they each come from very different worlds.
Finn grew up in a children’s home, often abused, as well as on the streets of NY. She’s tough, takes no prisoners and knows how to work the underworld. Devorah, on the other hand, grew up in a wealthy home and was brought up to be a lady. What’s delicious about these two are that Finn, while having that background, dresses like a proper gent. She speaks very well and knows how to be in both the streets and in higher society. Devorah, on the other hand, who you’d expect to be uncomfortable on the dark side, is very comfortable. In fact, in some cases she’s more assertive and easy with doing what needs to be done to get the info she needs, including mixing with not good people and calling out her own family, who have disowned her. I loved this.
Of course this is a mystery and on that level it’s very well done and moves at a good pace. I’m looking for the next one in the series.
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