April 20, 1921

The train rocks beneath me as we rumble somewhere through the mountains of central Pennsylvania. Dawn peeks pink through the window of my private room, and my pug, Aphrodite, snores, oblivious to my mood.

Three years. I’ve been away three years from my life in Philadelphia–a life that ended abruptly in the autumn of 1918, when influenza ripped through the city and settled in our household, killing my mother and leaving me forever changed. My father and grandmother, along with our family doctor, had thought it best for me to recover in the California desert, and so I’d been shipped off to grieve and heal in the company of my elderly Aunt Mae until her death last month. I had honestly considered making a life for myself out there with Aphrodite by my side, the way Mae had, but the phone call from my twin sister, Frances, had changed all of that in an instant.

She’s getting married, you see. And a girl needs to be there for her sister.

So I sold Mae’s house, packed my things, and here I am, less than a month later. Heading home.

Home.

I dress quickly, choosing yet another smart traveling suit, this one in a pale pink that contrasts with my fair skin and dark hair. It’s creased from being in my suitcase, but there’s only so much a girl can do on her own. And it’s just for today, because in a few short hours, I’ll be home.

And so will he, a little voice in the back of my head tells me. And he’s forgotten all about you.

Sharp claws tug at my heart. Of all of the men in the world, my sister Frances had to fall in love with the boy who grew up in the house next door. The boy who had been my childhood sweetheart, not hers–my first beau, my first kiss, the one who danced with me at my debutante ball and then marched off to war. I’d been the one to hold him when his sister eloped with a poor boy from the slums, the one to dry his tears when she died in childbirth a few years later.

“Chin up,” I tell my reflection. “Take it one day at a time.”

I’m returning to Philadelphia, to my old life, but I’m not the same girl who left. I’ve grown up. I’ve changed.

I just hope the world I left is ready to meet the new Edie Shippen.

A Deadly Endeavor, A Deadly Twenties Mystery Book #1
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: March 2024
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

A serial killer is on the loose in Jazz Age Philadelphia in Jenny Adams’ debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Rhys Bowen.

Philadelphia, 1921. When Edie Shippen returns home after spending years in California recovering from Influenza, she’s shocked to discover that her childhood sweetheart is engaged to her twin sister. Heartbroken and adrift, Edie vows to begin living her life as a modern woman—and to hell with anyone who gets in her way. But as young women start to disappear from the city, her newfound independence begins to feel dangerous.

Gilbert Lawless returned home from the Great War a shell of his former self. He hides away in the office of Philadelphia’s Coroner, content to keep to himself until a gruesome series of corpses come into the morgue. And when his sister, Lizzie, goes missing, he risks his career to beg help from the one person Lizzie seemed to trust: her employer, Edie Shippen.

Fearing the worst, Edie and Gilbert desperately search for clues. It soon becomes clear that Lizzie’s disappearance is connected to the deaths rocking the City of Brotherly Love…and it’s only a matter of time until the killer strikes again.

With a lush Roaring Twenties setting and a wickedly smart sleuth to cheer for, A Deadly Endeavor is the perfect puzzling romp for fans of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

Meet the author
Jenny Adams has always had an overactive imagination. She turned her love of books and stories into a career as a librarian and novelist. She holds degrees in Medieval Studies and Library Science from The Ohio State University and Drexel University. She has studied fiction at Johns Hopkins University and is an alumna of Blue Stoop’s 2019 YA Novel Intensive and the 2021 Tin House YA Workshop, and was a 2021 PitchWars Mentor. Jenny currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and daughter, and can be found on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram as @JAdamsWrites.