Viviana Valentine and the Ticking Clock

by Emily J. Edwards

Overview

For fans of Ashley Weaver and Rhys Bowen, when Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna head to Times Square for New Year’s Eve, they didn’t expect their resolution to involve catching a killer.

New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna have a lot of resolutions for the new year—whether it’s continuing to build up their detective agency or planning their wedding, the two are looking forward to the future. On their way to Times Square to celebrate, the two witness a brutal stabbing. When Tommy tries to chase down the culprit, Viviana tries her best to save the man. She’s unsuccessful, but Viviana hears his final words: a whispered apology to an unknown friend.

Clues are hard to come by, with the only leads being the fraught last words and a few nondescript matchbooks in the victim’s overcoat. Their investigation is halted when Detective Jack Lawson of the New York Police Department arrives, immediately ruffling Viviana’s feathers and bumping chests with Tommy, who he nearly arrested for murder just months earlier. The two know there’s more to the story, but there are other pressing matters at hand.

Clients are clamoring to get the detectives to work on their cases: a man is being blackmailed by a criminal who only writes in code, Tommy’s old friend needs his fiancée tailed, and an investment banker has mysteriously vanished. To add to their workload, Viviana knows something strange is happening at her boarding house. Will all of this—plus planning for a wedding—be too much for one Girl Friday?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639105229
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Series:	A Girl Friday Mystery , #3
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	114,239
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Emily J. Edwards 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 resides in Connecticut with her husband and several quadrupeds.

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2023

The sparkling third installment in Edwards’s historical series (after Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River) finds the newly engaged Valentine and her fiancé/investigative partner Tommy Fortuna heading to New York City’s Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve in 1950. On the way, the couple witnesses a brutal stabbing in an alley, with only a pair of discarded matchbooks and the dead man’s final words (“Tell Frankie it’s okay”) to point them toward the culprit. Over the next week and a half, Viviana and Tommy investigate the killing while juggling a trio of other cases involving a cryptic blackmailer, a jealous fiancé, and a missing investment banker. Meanwhile, Viviana learns that her all-women’s boarding house is about to close, and discovers key details about Tommy’s upbringing and dark recent past that threaten to derail their engagement. Though the mysteries all find satisfying resolution, readers looking for a pacey plot might be disappointed—what they’ll find instead, however, is cracking dialogue, well-drawn characters, and vivid evocations of mid-century Manhattan. Fans of Ashley Weaver and Mariah Fredericks should check this series out. Agent: Anne Tibbets, Donald Maass Literary. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Viviana Valentine and the Ticking Clock:
“Sparkling . . . Cracking dialogue, well-drawn characters, and vivid evocations of mid-century Manhattan. Fans of Ashley Weaver and Mariah Fredericks should check this series out.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The sharpness and warmth of Viv’s lively patter and the evocation of postwar New York will stick with you.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“With characters as diverse as the New York City setting . . . Readers will have no problem jumping right in.”
—Library Journal

“Period-perfect dialogue and snappy humor.”
—Bookpage

“Deftly scripted and highly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review

“A fun read with a narrative driven, plot twisting, and inherently fascinating mystery that plays fair with the reader.”
—Midwest Book Review, audiobook review

“A series I want to continue for a long time to come.”
—Kings River Life

“This is the third book in the series, and it keeps getting better.”
—Red Carpet Crash

“Edwards knows how to whisk readers away to New York City in the 1950's with ease.”
—Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

“Delicious details abound.”
—Historical Novels Review

Praise for The Girl Friday Mysteries:
“[A] sprightly debut . . . Edwards writes with flair.”
—The New York Times

“Viviana Valentine is a keeper.”
—Iona Whishaw, award-winning and bestselling author of the Lane Winslow series

“Emily Edwards stuns with Vivana Valentine Goes Up The River . . . Edwards once again flaunts her expert research skills, making the '50's vibrant and alive. On the whole, Up The River is a gorgeous mystery that will leave readers wanting more.”
—Nekesa Afia, author of Dead Dead Girls

“Edwards' clever, highly enjoyable debut is a love letter to the old-school private eye, starring a street-smart secretary who finds herself suddenly tasked with solving the cases of New York's rich and famous. With a stellar cast of supporting characters and a 1950s setting that drips with life, Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man unfolds a fun, twisty mystery before sticking the landing for a satisfying final reveal. This firecracker of a series opener will leave readers ready for more Viv!”
—Allison Epstein, author of A Tip for the Hangman

“A snappy valentine to a bygone era . . . [with] a raft of twists and complications.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A solid debut . . . For fans of hardboiled PIs with hearts of gold.”
—Library Journal

“Edwards nails the tone, with dialogue and milieu evocative of classic noir.”
—Bookpage

“[An] old-fashioned New York gumshoe detective novel, but brought up to date and given a very feminine spin.”
—Historical Novel Society

From the Publisher

09/01/2023

Set in 1950, with characters as diverse as the New York City setting, is Edwards's latest featuring recently engaged private investigators Viviana Valentine and Tommy Fortuna (following Viviana Goes Up the River). The couple's plans for a New Year's Eve in Times Square take a dive when they witness a brutal murder. They vow to investigate, just in case the police and their sometime nemesis Detective Lawson are in over their heads. Three other cases emerge: a missing banker, an artifact held for ransom, and a longtime friend of Tommy's who asks the pair to tail his fiancée. At the heart of these cases, there is also a tension between Viv and Tommy—their new role as a soon-to-be married couple changes their previous professional relationship. They will have to solve that case too. The novel's sometimes heavy-handed use of late '40s and early '50s vocabulary can wear thin. VERDICT Readers will have no problem jumping right into this hardboiled tale.—Linsey Milillo

Library Journal

2023-08-12
The dawn of 1951 presents a long list of cases for Edwards’ heroine, now the partner and fiancee of Hell’s Kitchen shamus Tommy Fortuna.

The thing is, Tommy and Viv’s clients are cagier than most suspected criminals. The first of them, Floristan, asks the pair to recover a missing item he refuses to identify and shows them what he considers a ransom note that’s written in cipher. Bowen, an investment banker, won’t say exactly why he’s concerned about the disappearance of Trevor Penhaligon, a cog in the wheel of Keller Bachmann Investments. Morty Lobel, an old pal of Tommy’s, wants Fortuna and Valentine to shadow Rachel Blum, his bride-to-be, because she’s changed in some indeterminate way he can’t put his finger on. Given a caseload like this, with clients as enigmatic as the puzzles they bring to the sleuths, it’s no wonder that Viv and Tommy have little time or energy to devote to the mystery of the dying man they found on the sidewalk west of Times Square in the closing minutes of New Year’s Eve. Whoever the victim was—the person who stabbed him to death seems to have lifted his identification—his dying words, “Tell Frankie…it’s okay,” pose still another riddle. The solutions to most of these mysteries are instantly forgettable, and the title promises more suspense than Edwards delivers, but the sharpness and warmth of Viv’s lively patter and the evocation of postwar New York will stick with you much longer.

Perfect for anyone who longs for a return to the days when “violent crimes are rarely committed against strangers.

Kirkus Reviews