Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man

A Girl Friday Mystery, Book 1

By: Emily J. Edwards

Narrated by: Stephanie Willing

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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. It 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.

©2022 Emily J. Edwards (P)2022 Dreamscape Media

Fun retro!

Enjoyable period detective whodunit with well drawn characters and amazing attention to detail in dress, food and slang.

Narrator Stephanie Willing made this wonderful

I wanted a fast, entertaining audio, and “Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man” got some fun press, and I decided to give it a go. And I’m happy that I did!

What I enjoyed was the 1950’s vernacular. Viviana is a broad, calls women “Doll Face” and men “big golloots”. Because of the setting in the 1950’s, I decided to listen to the audio, narrated wonderfully by Stephanie Willing. Listening to Ms. Willing brought the images to my mind, and I saw the book as a movie.

The story takes place in New York, 1950. Valentine works for Tommy Fortuna, the best PI in the city for taking down organized crime. As the story opens, wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone demands Tommy to tail his daughter Tallulah because she refuses to marry a man 40 years her senior. After Tommy takes the case, Valentine finds a dead body in the office and a missing Tommy. Now Tommy is wanted for murder.

Valentine does not believe Tommy murdered the man and takes on the Blackstone case to clear his name. Valentine learns a bit more about Tallulah. She also learns more about the Blackstone business which doesn’t bode well for Tommy.

This is a fun romp of an audio. It’s over 6 hours of fun. Willing’s voice is absolutely pitch perfect for this period piece. This is book 1; I shall look for book 2. I like Ms. Valentine!

Loved this

I loved this story! The characters, the performance and the story were rollicking good fun! Can’t wait for the next one.

The Best PI

Author Emily Edwards has created an astonishing private investigator placing her in NYC with color, panache and a serpiginous puzzle, Narration is perfectly matched to the characters and their New York in the 1950s. Episodes within the story are sharply delineated by chapters leading to comfortable listening at bedtime.

Fun light girl power detective tale

This book was a fun companion, while I did my daily walks. The narrator is perfect, and added greatly to the overall pleasure of the book. It’s the very definition of easy listening.

Not bad. It was worth listening to, but I doubt I will go further.

This was a nice way to revisit detective novels of old. The narrator did a good job. I was someone irritated by a few character, inconsistencies and behaviors. The MC expressed annoyance at detective novels or revealing previously unknown clues, but then just the same. For the amount of set up, the resolution came about too quickly. in an attempt to contradict some stereotypes, others were reinforced. This makes it sound worse than it was, and I did enjoy the listen.