Book Recommendation: The Last Drop of Hemlock by Katharine Schellman
The Last Drop of Hemlock (2023, Minotaur Books) is the second book of the Nightingale Mysteries by Virginia author Katharine Schellman. A good selection for your reading pleasure. Click on the link to reach the website to learn more about the author and her books. You will also want to read her Lady Adler Mysteries books.
New York, 1924. Vivian Kelly has gotten a job at the Nightingale, a speakeasy known to the young and fun as a place where the rules of society can be tossed aside for a dance and a drink, and things are finally looking up for her and her sister Florence. They might not be living like queens?still living in a dingy two-room tenement, still scrimping and saving?but they're confident in keeping a roof over their heads, and every once in a while, there is fried ham for breakfast. Of course, things were even better before Bea's Uncle Pearlie, the doorman for the Nightingale, was poisoned. Bea has been Vivian's best friend since before she can remember, and though Pearlie's death is ruled a suicide, Bea's sure her uncle wouldn't have killed himself. After all, he had the family to care for...and there have been rumors of a mysterious letter writer, blackmailing Vivian's poorest neighbors for their most valuable possessions, threatening poison if they don't comply. With the Nightingale's dangerously lovely owner, Honor, worried for her employees' safety and Bea determined to prove her uncle was murdered, Vivian once again finds herself digging through a dead man's past in hopes of stopping a killer. Goodreads
Katharine Schellman began her writing career in 2020 with the launch of her debut historical mystery, The Body in the Garden, a whodunnit set in Regency England featuring amateur sleuth Lily Adler. The Body in the Garden was named a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2020, and Katharine was named one of BookPage’s 16 Women to Watch in 2020. Lily’s sleuthing adventures continue in the Lily Adler Mysteries, and readers can meet her anytime in Katharine’s free Lily Adler short mystery, Pistols at Dawn.
In 2022, Katharine began publishing her second series, the Nightingale Mysteries, a Jazz Age drama full of grit, glamour, and characters who walk the line between hero and criminal. The first book, Last Call at the Nightingale, was a New York Times editors’ pick in June 2022, a Library Journal Best Crime Fiction of 2022, and named one of the best mysteries of the summer by Publisher’s Weekly, Goodreads, Bustle, and more. The fourth and final Nightingale Mystery, Last Dance Before Dawn, was released in June 2025.
Katharine’s work has been glowingly reviewed in multiple publications and been dubbed “worthy of Rex Stout or Agatha Christie” (Library Journal, starred review). Her books have been nominated for an Edgar Award from Mystery Writers of America (Last Dance Before Dawn) and a Silver Falchion (The Last Note of Warning). In 2025 she was a Zibby Media National Book Awards winner for Best Book for the History Lover (The Last Note of Warning).
Katharine graduated with a BA from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, after which she worked as an actor and a political consultant. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her family, an ever-growing TBR pile, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.
Stargazer Lily, Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania USA IMG 1076
Canon PowerShot G11 Camera
Photograph by Roy Kelley
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
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