Harlem After Midnight

One year ago, I enjoyed reading Miss Aldridge Regrets, the first in Louise Hare’s Canary Club Mystery series. Now the series continues with Harlem After Midnight, set immediately after the previous book’s events. Told in three timelines, it combines two different mysteries, both set in New York City in the first half of the 20th century. 

Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Upon arriving in New York in September 1936, after all that happened on the ship ride over, Lena Aldridge is hoping things are less eventful for the next two weeks before she heads back home to London. Rather than staying in the fancy hotel where her long-lost family is, she chooses to stay in Harlem with the married friends of her new romantic interest, Will. Meanwhile, Lena is hoping to learn more abut her late father Alfie’s time in New York nearly 30 years earlier, before he moved to London and before she was born. But tracking down people who knew her father—and what happened to him during that time—is difficult. On top of that, personal tensions are high between Will, his half-sister Bel, and his friends, Claudette and Louis. Between chapters set in the present, throwbacks into Alfie’s past, and glimpses into a tragic event in the near future, there’s more than one mystery afoot. 

Review

In Miss Aldridge Regrets, readers were introduced to Lena Aldridge, a likable if morally gray young woman. During that story, set aboard a ship over five days while crossing the Atlantic, Lena was set up for murder in the wake of a series of gruesome deaths. Facing danger and making shocking discoveries about her own family, Lena finally made it to New York City. 

This is where Harlem After Midnight picks up. Lena has two weeks in New York before she boards the same ship back home to London. Continuing her new romance with pianist Will Goodman, Lena stays with his friends in Harlem, Claud and Louis. The book starts with a bang: A woman—Lena?—has fallen out of the window of a Harlem apartment, possibly a victim of attempted murder. What will happen over the next week to lead to such a horrific crime? Meanwhile, Lena is also looking into her father’s past when he lived in New York nearly 30 years earlier. What happened to him in New York and why did he relocate to London? Did he leave behind any family or friends? Between Lena’s chapters, past Alfie’s chapters, and the brief previews of the crime awaiting Lena, this novel maintains a quick but easy pace to keep the pages turning. 

There are two mysteries at the heart of Harlem After Midnight. Alfie’s parts, set in 1908, unfold unexpectedly, especially once another characters comes onto the scene. These chapters are intriguing yet tragic, highlighting the limited options available to many people and the difficult circumstances they can lead to.

Then there’s the current situation with Lena in 1936. She’s getting to know Will, his half-sister Bel, and his friends, Claud and Louis. It all seems light enough, but gradually a years-old family drama emerges. Will has secrets, and his relationship with Bel is certainly complicated. It calls forth themes of family, defense, prison time, and how to build a life in the aftermath. How does Lena fit into all this? Who would want to kill within this tight-knit (yet troubled) group? 

As in the previous book, the theme of passing is central. Lena is half-Black and half-white; Bel is also light enough to pass as white. Both women discuss their ability to pass in a racist world versus consistently being true to their Black identity. Moral grayness comes out here, too. Secrets, scheming, gossiping—what marks a person as good or bad? What’s justified? Lena grapples with these questions, but she isn’t alone in her personal dilemma. 

Perhaps more so than in the first book, I love the incorporation of music in the story. Alfie was a skilled pianist in his lifetime, as is Will, and Lena is a talented singer. I enjoyed the scene when she and Will perform together and loved the discussion of the music scenes of the 1900s and 1930s. Discussions of ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, and more were enthralling for this music lover!

Final Thoughts

Harlem After Midnight sometimes feels more like a family drama than a historical mystery, but even so, it is engrossing and quick-paced. I enjoyed the whole book and look forward to seeing what Lena Aldridge gets up to next! I’m eagerly awaiting the third Canary Club Mystery installment, but until then, I plan to read Louise Hare’s first novel, This Lovely City.  

Get the Book

You can buy Harlem After Midnight here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare
Series	Canary Club Mystery (#2)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Mystery
Setting	New York City
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley)
Original Publication Date	August 29, 2023

Official Summary

A body falls from a town house window in Harlem, and it looks just like the newest singer at the Apollo…in this evocative, twisting new novel from the author of Miss Aldridge Regrets.

Harlem, 1936: Lena Aldridge grew up in a cramped corner of London, hearing stories of the bright lights of Broadway. She always imagined that when she finally went to New York City, she’d be there with her father. But now he’s dead, and she’s newly arrived and alone, chasing a dream that has quickly dried up. When Will Goodman—the handsome musician she met on the crossing from England—offers for her to stay with his friends in Harlem, she agrees. She has nowhere else to go, and this will give her a chance to get to know Will better and see if she can find any trace of the family she might have remaining.

Will’s friends welcome her with open arms, but just as Lena discovers the stories her father once told her were missing giant pieces of information, she also starts to realize the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own. And they might just place a target on her back. Especially when she is drawn to the brightest stage in town.