You Loved the Met Gala Looks

Have ever fallen down an internet rabbit hole or know all the words to "Pink Pony Club"

Hi friends,

Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms reading this — especially my mom — and hugs to anyone who finds the holiday a hard one.

In other news, habemus papam! An American pope! My brand is strong because five people sent this to me:

And, now, what to read if…

You Loved the Met Gala Theme

The Monsters We Defy be Leslye Penelope

The theme of last week’s Met Gala — fashion’s biggest night — was “Tailored for You,” inspired by Black dandyism, which Vogue defines as “a fashion revolution, a movement steeped in history, resistance, and pride. But its impact stretches far beyond the sartorial. It’s a cultural statement, an act of protest, and, above all, an enduring celebration of individuality.” It has its roots in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and, looking at the outfits, I was reminded of Leslye Penelope’s The Monsters We Defy, a delicious tale of mystical thievery set in 1920s D.C.

Clara Johnson can communicate with spirits. It’s a gift that saved her life when she hit her lowest point, but also left her burdened with a damaging curse and a debt to the underworld. When a powerful spirit, The Empress, offers to lift Clara’s hex if she steals a ring right off the finger of one of D.C.’s most prominent and wealthy women, the cursed woman quickly realizes two things. First, she’ll need help to pull this off and second, the ring is being used to kidnap and control impoverished District residents. She cautiously begins to build a team of other hexed people to reclaim the ring and release the hostages from its mysterious hold.

I picked up Monsters We Defy as part of my quest to read more fantasy. I love heist books (see my recommendations of Portrait of a Thief, Blacktop Wasteland and The Feather Thief), so I thought I’d try one with a magical twist. My plan worked — I adored it and am looking forward to diving into Leslye Penelope’s backlist. Penelope seamlessly weaves together the history of the 1919 D.C. race riots, African folk magic, romance and mystery in this gem of a novel.

You Have Obsessive Tendencies

Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody

Teddy Angstrom’s family is marked by tragedy. Her older sister Angie disappeared ten years earlier, and now her father has committed suicide. After her dad’s death, Teddy learns he was secretly a top contributor to a Reddit community dedicated to solving Angie’s case. Grief-stricken, Teddy falls down the same rabbit hole.

Teddy quickly becomes obsessed, and her investigation interferes with her job teaching English at a posh high school, causes strife with her gun-nut boyfriend and brings her back in contact with her estranged half-brother. Still worse, she develops a fixation on Mickey, a charming amateur sleuth all too eager to find out what happened to Angie. Even as her life falls apart and she adds alcoholism to her internet addiction, Teddy refuses to give up until she finds her sister or self-destructs.

I was so stressed out reading Rabbit Hole, torn between slamming the book shut and rapidly turning pages. I finished it over a year ago, and I’m actually tensing up writing this. It’s a sign of what a talented writer Kate Brody is and how much life she instills in Teddy. As Bethanne Patrick wrote for NPR, “Brody wisely builds the suspense around Teddy's dissolution and paranoia, rather than focusing on the details of Angie's fate, creating an atmosphere so suffocating and panicky that readers will feel the effects of loss, grief, and confusion as surely as if they were inside Teddy's very smart and once better-adjusted mind.”

“Pink Pony Club” is Your Song

One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman

Five years after its release, Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club is everywhere. The song, a joyous celebration of go-go dancing, finding your people and ignoring others’ disapproval, hit No.1 on the pop air chart last month, exactly five years and one day after it was released. It’s been covered by everyone from Kacey Musgraves and Rick Astley to Slipknot. The Chainsmokers, unnecessarily, remixed it. My favorite is Roan’s duet with Elton John (His hat! He sits until the chorus! Their joy!):

In One Death at a Time, Abbi Waxman brings her sleuths — and readers — to a Pink-Pony-Club-esque burlesque bar that, unfortunately, has deadly secrets.

One Death at a Time follows Julia Mann, an aging former starlet, and Natasha Mason, a struggling twentysomething, who meet at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting shortly after the one-time actress finds a murdered dead body in her pool. The police think Julia did it — after all, she’s already been to jail for murder once — and she has no memories of the night in question. After hearing Julia’s tale, and knowing of her scandalous background, Mason volunteers to be the older woman’s AA sponsor.

Surprising even themselves, the pair develop a quirky relationship based on a shared history of questionable decisions and a mutual love of snark. Along with a team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents, they set out to clear Julia’s name — while maintaining their sobriety.

I’m a longtime Waxman fan and was excited to see her first mystery. One Death at a Time did not disappoint. The rat-a-tat banter between Julia and Mason feels like something out of an old Hollywood movie and I loved the dynamic of a younger woman coaching an older one through the first few days of sobriety. It’s a sharp, fun and fresh take on the cozy mystery. I hope to see more mysteries from Waxman.

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