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Washington, D.C., 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation’s capital, where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; police officer’s daughter Nora, who is entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Bea, whose career has ended along with the women’s baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy’s Red Scare.

Grace’s weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears apart the house, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: Who is the true enemy in their midst?

My first Kate Quinn book, I read this for book club and had NO idea what to expect. (I don’t read back covers.)

I really enjoyed this book! It got a little wordy in a few places (I like historical details but not ALL the historical details), but the author did a great job really me in by starting the book in two unexpected POVs: the house and a 13-year-old boy. They were perfect, though, because they teased me just enough to want to keep reading to see what happened.

With each chapter in a different POV, he book covered a lot of ground topically, addressing lots of issues from 1950s America. That kept the book interesting too–it didn’t all focus on one issue. And the author did a great job wrapping things up at the end too. (I won’t spoil it for you.)

I completely understand the hype of this author, now, and will likely read more from her.

Rated PG-13/R for drinking, sex (not shown), and violence.

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For more historical mystery, check out:

The Metropolitan Affair by Jocelyn Green

For another multiple point-of-view mystery, check out:

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell