By Jaime Jo Wright

Knives Out meets The Great Gatsby!

Rhemy Crenshaw had been in the foster system since an arsonist took the lives of her family. Determined not to be another statistic, she shoves aside her past trauma and pours her energy into her new job: research assistant to the famed biographer Elton Floyd. But his latest book on Marian Arnold, the last victim of the Butterfly Butcher serial killer, is hitting too close to home. Someone is keeping secrets about this 100-year-old case. Someone who knows Rhemy’s past. Someone who will kill again.

Prohibition is killing the brewing economy in Milwaukee. Marian Arnold, grieving the death of her parents, retreats to Mullerian Manor, the only estate her lawyers could salvage when her father’s brewery went bankrupt. But something is dreadfully wrong: a mysterious maid no one but Marian sees, voices in the night, a body in the butterfly house… is Marian going mad, or is someone trying to kill her? And the butterflies, all the beautiful butterflies… Once symbols of life and light, they now seem to be harbingers of death. What evil is lurking in the glass butterfly house?

Pros: One of my new favorite Jaime Jo Wright novels! It held the perfect hint of scariness without descending too far into darkness. The mysteries were superbly done. I sort of figured out the 1921 mystery, but didn’t have a chance with the modern day story. There was a lot of character depth that I appreciated but can’t talk about because it would spoil the mystery for y’all! I loved the nods to Knives Out in the modern day mystery, yet I was equally enamored with the 1921 story. And, of course, the descriptions of Wisconsin in October/November were spot on! 

Cons: I did notice two discrepancy/typos, but I’d say my only negative would be some elements towards the end of the book. Not sure some of the police procedure things would have happened, and I felt the mental trauma was too easily resolved. I’d say more, but, again, that would spoil everything.