Denny S. Bryce's debut, Wild Women and the Blues, is an immersive and suspenseful dual-timeline historical novel set in Jazz Age and present-day Chicago. In 2015, film student Sawyer is looking for answers about a film he discovered in his grandmother's attic, and he's convinced 110-year-old Honoree has them. In alternating point-of-view chapters, Sawyer is forced to divulge his own painful secrets in exchange for Honoree's while she tells him the story of her time as a dancer in 1925--a time of prohibition, jazz and the New Negro Movement.
Determined to rise above her circumstances, young Honoree auditions at a higher caliber nightclub, only to witness a murder there just hours later. Complicating matters is the fact that the former love of her life has just reappeared after years away--and he's involved in shady dealings. Honoree's tale is one of murder, intrigue and a dizzyingly vibrant nightlife that will captivate readers as much as it does Sawyer. It's perfect for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Bryce uses slang and just the right number of historical references to ground Honoree's chapters in time and place, but she also draws out Sawyer's grief and guilt with moments touched by the ghost of his sister. As elderly Honoree and young Sawyer share their stories, they find that they have more in common than either one expected. Bryce excels at both action and emotion, and readers will be caught up in the passion and peril of 1925 Chicago. --Suzanne Krohn, editor, Love in Panels