The Broadway Butterfly by Sara Divello

 

"That was the life of a crime reporter: to bear witness to the ripple effects of tragedy, and to have one's own life irrevocably intertwined with the people involved. And then to pick up and move on---always onward---to the next case, the next story, the next unbelievable set of facts. And so she would."

               -Julia Harpman, from the novel

I must admit this one was free with Amazon Prime---a good choice though. I am rating it a 4. A true crime story, it was suspenseful enough to keep me reading although I found the editing a bit careless and many characters were confusing, especially ones in law enforcement and politics. It was obvious the author spent countless hours researching and she admits that in her "Backstory" at the end.

My favorite character, and I would have to say the protagonist, is Julia Harpman, a bulldog of a crime reporter at a time (early 1900's) when women in many fields were not taken seriously and faced gender discrimination. She is captured by the murder of a beautiful, young model, Dot King, who became known as the Broadway Butterfly and is determined to hold the perpetrator to account. There are two suspects and the plot twists and turns, keeping the reader guessing as to "who dunnit."

One of the fascinating parts for me was the Postscript, where Ms. Divello describes the real people who are her characters. Many historical fictions I read have few real people and more fictional characters. This one is almost like a documentary of a true crime of 1923 but it does draw the reader in like a work of fiction. I enjoyed it.