When I hit AC to celebrate turning thirty-five, let’s just say that time travel did not appear on my Birthday Bingo Card. Yet here I am, stuck in 1955, in a Mid-Century version of Atlantic City that is unrecognizable to me. No casinos because gambling is illegal. (But plenty of it goes on in back rooms.) No fancy new hotels, but lots of fancy old ones. The cars are huge, the food is carb-loaded, and the movies are all in black and white. But the clothes? They’re to die for.

And speaking of death…well, let me provide some context first. In this place, I am living the life of my own great-aunt, also named Tess. Also a reporter. Did I mention I hear her voice in my head? Probably not, as it’s not the kind of thing that inspires trust. Here, I am a dutiful niece to Zia Antonetta, who owns a boarding house in Ducktown, the Italian section of AC. I find myself expected to provide labor in said boarding house, though I also work for the local paper. And I have a kid brother, Val, whose hot head gets him into some serious hot water: an arrest for the murder of a boarding house guest, a suspected Nazi in hiding. So I have no choice but to stick around to help Val—as he happens to be my grandpa.

Along the way, I meet some interesting people, including police detective Joe O’Brien, a World War Two vet who’s apparently my great-aunt’s great crush. There’s also suspiciously charming fellow reporter Harry Stein, who my Aunt Tess informs me is “a wolf.” (Fifties Speak for guy-not-to-be-trusted.) I also cross paths with a shady nightclub owner, his famous headliner, and a certain physicist who might be the one person who can help me get back to the future. But not before I save my teenage grandpa from the electric chair. And maybe figure out how the heck I landed in this Brave New/Old world of 1950s Atlantic City…

Murder on the Steel Pier: A Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: March 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Greetings from the Nifty Fifties…

The morning after a blowout birthday celebration in Atlantic City, crime reporter and party girl Tess Mancini wakes up in an unfamiliar place—1955. Bread is eighteen cents a loaf, Ike occupies the White House, and the Boardwalk is crawling with vintage cars and vintage wise guys. A bewildered Tess is sure of only two things: One, she’s not crazy, and two, the clothes are fabulous. Somehow, she’s living the life of her Great-Aunt Theresa, who disappeared decades before Tess’s birth.

In her 1950s existence, Tess is a reporter at the local newspaper, living at a boarding house owned by her Zia Antonetta, an Italian immigrant with a big secret. It turns out Theresa has a kid brother, teenaged troublemaker Val Mancini—aka Tess’s paternal grandfather. Though determined to return to her own time, Tess’s curiosity takes over. What happened to the first Theresa Mancini? And is Tess’s trip through time connected to her aunt’s fate?

But when young Val is accused of murdering a boarding house guest, a Nazi in hiding, Tess ends up with two investigations on her hands—and is now stuck in time until she can prove Val’s innocence. As she searches for answers, she finds allies in a dishy police detective and a suspiciously charming fellow reporter. The clock is ticking for Tess to find a way home, but first, she has to keep her grandfather off Death Row.

Because before Tess can get back to the future … she needs to make sure she has one.

About the author
Proud Jersey girl Rosie Genova is a multi-genre author. Her work includes a Jersey shore cozy series, The Italian Kitchen Mysteries, and the upcoming Tess Mancini Time Travel Mysteries, set in 1955 Atlantic City. She is also the author of standalone suspense and a couple of rom-coms that presently live in her computer files (but are longing to be released into the wild). A former teacher and journalist, Rosie’s non-fiction has appeared in Entrepreneur magazine and The New York Times. The mother of three sons, Rosie still lives in her favorite state with her husband, too many dusty antiques, and a charming mutt named Lucy.