The Fall of White City

Revised 2020 Edition (Gilded Age Chicago Mysteries, Book 1)

By: N.S. Wikarski

Narrated by: Lucinda Gainey

A city of wealth, grime, and secrets where corruption lurks behind gaslight and gold.

GILDED AGE CHICAGO MYSTERIES
The Gilded Age Chicago Mysteries plunge listeners into a richly detailed world of historical suspense where truth is never simple. Society elites guard their reputations. Immigrants struggle to survive, and justice always comes at a price.

Perfect for fans of Gilded Age and Victorian-era crime novels with a dark edge. If you love immersive historical mysteries with vivid settings and smart storytelling, this series will keep you listening late into the night.

Volume One - The Fall of White City
A socialite and her admirer stalk a murderer against the backdrop of the 1893 World’s Fair, with suspects ranging from a captain of industry to a denizen of the slums, a shady doctor who mixes his own drugs, and a teenage prostitute in the Levee District.

©2020 N. S. Wikarski (P)2025 N. S. Wikarski

Vintage Chicago charm and grit

A thoroughly fun period mystery, with lively, smart characters. Fun, understated, full of good twists and turns!

Chicago 1893: Hull House " White City" Murder

Having been a mystery buff for over fifty years but a historical fiction buff for less time, I never read the Gilded Age Chicago Mysteries. I'm delighted that this was reissued and that I chose to listen to it recently. Evangeline (Engie), a wealthy single woman of marriageable age, teaches at Hull House and has become immersed in Jane Addams' and Helen Gates Starr's mission, when a very promising student is found dead in an upscale hotel. Elsa, a smart, curious and beautiful German immigrant is dead and her twin, Franz arrested for her murder. Engie ropes in her childhood friend Freddie, an aspiring journalist stuck in a law career he hates to investigate. She is fairly sure the police are more focused on Franz's political leanings, which are anarchistic, than what really happened. This is a well plotted, though given away too early, mystery about class, women's roles, Hull House, the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, full of temporary buildings that cost a fortune to build and human beings. Children still earn a living in factories instead of going to school. The murder of a poor young woman is solved quickly, her death unimportant. Engie moves between all of these worlds, enjoying her wealth and privilege but also committed to raising others up. This is a fun, engaging novel with great characters. As to the narrator of this audible book, she was GREAT, five stars EXCEPT for Freddy's voice. He's a major character and the voice she chose for him grated. So one star lost but overall not a deal breaker.

Entertaining

I enjoyed the story and the performance was very good. I look forward to the next book in the series. Well done.