Featured in Town and Country's 'Must-Read Books of Summer 2023'.
There is a certain hour, in the dead of night, when the orchid's scent can put you under a spell...
"From the family shops of Little Italy to the bright lights of Dreamland, Nancy Bilyeau takes you on a glittering tour of a bygone New York... " - Mariah Fredericks, author of The Lindbergh Nanny
"Historical mystery fans will find this irresistible." - Publishers Weekly
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?
PRAISE FOR NANCY BILYEAU:
"Nancy Bilyeau's passion for history infuses her books." - Alison Weir, the biggest selling female historian in the UK
"Nancy Bilyeau has created a beautifully layered and utterly seductive tale... and, at its living, tender heart, a strong-willed and magnetic heroine." - Emilya Naymark, author of Behind the Lie, finalist for the 2023 Sue Grafton Award
"Nancy Bilyeau's loving recreation of Jazz Age New York hums with authenticity... Her heroine, underdog Italian immigrant Zia, is irresistible..." - Carole Bugg, author of the Ian Hamilton mystery series and Edgar nominated Cleopatra's Dagger
"With a heroine you can't help rooting for, a fascinating cast of characters, and a tense, high-stakes mystery at its heart, this is a book you can't stop reading." - Olivia Hawker, bestselling author of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow
"The Orchid Hour... reeks with the smell of lasagna in Little Italy, the smell of cheap gin in a 1920s speakeasy, and most importantly and most delicately with the scent of orchids at midnight... her best by far, and she'd already set a high bar." - Timothy Miller, author of The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle
"Nancy Bilyeau has become my go-to author for brilliantly written historical suspense... Read it and be seduced." - Kris Waldherr, author of Unnatural Creatures and The Lost History of Dreams