Listen: it’s not always an easy sleep in New York City no matter the time of year, and in the summertime? That heat’ll get you. But my windowless room at Mrs. Svitlana Kovalenko’s Girls-Only Boarding house stays a pretty steady temp, so it’s a miracle that I manage to not soak the sheets every night.

Board is included at Mrs. K’s, so it’s breakfast and dinner on the 7’s and that makes the start of the day easier. As soon as I wolf down my bacon and eggs and catch up with my three housemates (Betty the nurse, Dottie the teacher, and Phyllis the model), Mrs. K, and her teenage son, Oleks, it’s off to Tommy’s, where I’ve been working since I came to the city at an oh-so-sweet sixteen.

Tommy is Tommy Fortuna, who isn’t too proud to tell you that he’s New York City’s best private investigator– but I’ll add that he’s the city’s biggest slob, to boot. Every single day, I show up and it’s time to scrub out that percolator, start another pot of coffee, fix a typewriter, update case files, send out invoices, pray they get paid, and hope to the Lord himself that Tommy shows up unharmed for the day. But the Lord, he lets me down sometimes and just last week Tommy showed up with a shiner that he’s lucky didn’t cause him to permanently go blind.

I have a good thing going with ol’ Tommy boy. I was quite the delinquent before I got this line as his Girl Friday. But my shady past, I think, was the unspoken shining star on my resume that got me the gig– I can handle just about anything this rough-and-tumble office throws my way. But I do have to say, there’s an awful lot of sitting around most days here in Hell’s Kitchen. For the fact that when I met Tommy he was sporting a shiny and new Rolex, most of our days are spent sitting around and jawing, hoping a nice and easy divorce case rolls through the door. Or anything that keeps the lights on, really.

When we do have a case, it’s all hands on deck. I like to think I’ve got instincts that mesh perfectly with Tommy’s, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that I could do the work he does, just backwards and in a girdle. My housemate, Dottie, points out all the time that the PI and I come to the exact same conclusions about whodunnit at the exact same time. But only time will tell if I’ll ever get to handle my own case. . .

Tommy’s isn’t like regular jobs and sometimes I have to work some kooky hours, but today, it’s the usual 5pm au revoir. Every day he asks me if I want cab fare, but the boarding house in Chelsea is only about a mile from the office, so today, I say no thanks. A nice walk home in the summer sunshine is just enough to whet the appetite for Mrs. Kovalenko’s dab hand at American cooking, and after dinner, I’m happy to curl up in Betty’s room, jawing about what happened in the wards and the latest issue of LIFE magazine. There’s no way I could keep my head on straight if I didn’t live with these girls. They’ll help a friend through anything.

Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man, A Girl Friday Mystery #1
Genre: Historical
Release: November 2022
Purchase Link

Life as a secretary in New York just got tougher when Viviana Valentine’s boss goes M.I.A in this debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and Frances Brody.

New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy missing and a lifeless body on the floor.

The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s headline-grabbing life. Meanwhile, Lawson is itching to solve his murder case, and continues harassing Viviana for answers—until she’s the victim of a series of violent attacks.

But Tommy’s still missing, and Viviana is scared. As she digs into the dirty history of the Blackstone empire, she suddenly realizes the true danger at hand. Now, it’s up to her to find her missing boss and make sure he doesn’t turn up D.O.A.

Meet the author
Emily J. Edwards (she/her) earned her degree in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College and took the long road to becoming an author, working for over a decade as a wine and spirits journalist, radio producer, and podcaster. She currently lives with her husband and several quadrupeds in Connecticut. You can find her online on Twitter and Instagram @MsEmilyEdwards or at msemilyedwards.com.

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