Review of Murder and Gold by Ann Aptaker
Cantor Gold, dapper butch art thief and smuggler for whom survival is everything, must now grapple with two fronts: surviving the shifting sands of the criminal underworld, and navigating the changing tides of society.
Cantor Gold is back with Murder and Gold, the 5th installment of the Cantor Gold Crime series, and boy, Ann Aptaker does not take prisoners. Beautiful dames are dropping like flies and Cantor really needs all her wits to keep herself alive and out of jail as police nemesis Lieutenant Norm Huber is trying to frame her for murder.
After the devastating events of Flesh and Gold, Cantor keeps her tattered heart safely locked behind a thick wall as an endless parade of women warm her bed. Romance is dead and only the thrill of her dangerous job and the monetary freedom it brings keeps her sharp. Our adventure begins when Cantor’s most recent one-night stand ends up murdered on her doorstep. And don’t think it ends there. I’ve learned to be cautious when it comes to getting too attached to any of the female characters as Ann has no qualms killing them off. Oh, the drama of Noir, you gotta love it.
There is a lot of action and intrigue, darkness and violence, mobster power play, high society being snooty, big hulking goons and Chivas neat.
I was happy to see so many of my favorite characters from the series make an appearance. Especially a larger role for one of my most loved, top curator Vivienne Parkhurst Trent. What attracts me so to Ann Aptaker’s lush writing – the bulk of this book was written in Paris, during the Covid-19 lockdown – is her love for New York City, its history and architecture and her love for the hard-boiled noir genre. I adore her women, both vulnerable and calculating and always a magnet for trouble. I said it before, Aptaker makes my heart sing and I hope Cantor Gold has many more adventures to come.
f/f violence and death – it’s noir, baby!
Themes: New York 1954, Lorraine Quin, Eve Garraway, Alice Lamarr, the body count is high.
5 Stars
* ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
