Do they honestly believe this orchid will release its fragrance only at night?

I can’t help wondering about that as I gently sponge the white petals of the Brassavola. This is my job, believe it or not. I help take care of the flowers that are supposed to adorn an expensive nightclub when it opens to New Yorkers tomorrow night. David da Costa, the host and impresario of the club, named it The Orchid Hour because he’s obsessed with this flower.

The Brassavola gives off an exquisite fragrance. The orchid was imported from Guyana at tremendous expense, cared for, fussed over, in the hopes that it will do here, in New York, what it did naturally in South America—release its scent in the middle of the night.

This is just one of the wild ideas of David da Costa’s. He’s an actor. These “speakeasys”—nightclubs opened in secret to serve alcohol, which is against the law—like to hire actors and singers. But are there any nightclub hosts who look like David? He was in Photoplay magazine in an article “Who’s the Next Rudolf Valentino?”

I can’t let David da Costa’s big brown eyes and lean shoulders affect me, of that I am determined. I’m going to take the orchids to the nightclub and pretend to be a loyal employee who only cares about flowers and food and music and, of course, cocktails.

And all the while, I have to try to learn everything I can about what is really going on at The Orchid Hour. That’s the way I will find the evidence that I can take to Lieutenant Hudgins. And how I will win justice.

The Orchid Hour
Genre: Historical
Release: August 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

Nancy Bilyeau, author of The Blue, returns with a tantalizing novel about one woman caught up in a secret nightclub that one can only reach through a certain florist on a cobblestone street.

New York City, 1923. Zia De Luca’s life is about to be shattered.

Having lost her husband to The Great War, she lives with her in-laws in Little Italy and works at the public library.

But when a quiet poetry-lover is murdered outside the library, the police investigation focuses on Zia.

After a second tragedy strikes even closer to home, Zia learns that both crimes are connected to a new speakeasy in Greenwich Village called The Orchid Hour.

When the police investigation stalls, Zia decides to find her own answers. A cousin with whom she has a special bond serves as a guide to the shadow realm of The Orchid Hour, a world filled with enticements Zia has shunned up to now.

She must contend with a group of players determined to find wealth and power in New York on their own terms. In this heady atmosphere, Zia begins to wonder if she too could rewrite her life’s rules.

As she’s pulled in deeper and deeper, will Zia be able to bring the killers to justice before they learn her secret?

About the author
Nancy Bilyeau is a magazine editor who worked on the staffs of Good Housekeeping, InStyle, and Rolling Stone before trying her hand at historical fiction. Her debut novel, The Crown, was an Oprah pick. Her seventh historical novel, The Orchid Hour, is set in New York City in 1923. She lives with her family in the Hudson Valley and is trying to grow tomatoes, radishes, and a whole lot of pollinator flowers. You can learn more on her website and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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