Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

If you dream of being a flapper, drinking bootleg gin while listening to Billie Holiday in a smoke-filled Harlem nightclub - this is the book for you. I have been a devoted fan of Lyndsay Faye since JANE STEELE but now I am at the stalker level. Whatever the historical period she is writing about, she creates such remarkable characters who speak intelligent snark and exudes charm and the language and setting are spot-on. You believe that you are in 1920's racially divided dangerous Portland where a single white woman on death's doorstep running from the New York mafia finds herself a new family of sorts and learns about the many faces of evil and love. Oh, dear reader, you will positively fall for Nobody James and the unusual gang at the Paragon Hotel. Plus, as an added bonus, I can now swear in Italian.