Murder at the Wham Bam Club, Carolyn Marie Wilkins
Murder at the Wham Bam Club, Carolyn Marie Wilkins
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Murder at the Wham Bam Club

Author: Carolyn Marie Wilkins

Series: Psychics and Soul Food

Narrator: Diana Blue

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/29/2025


Synopsis

After the death of her brave Harlem Hellfighter husband during the First World War, young widow Nola Ann Jackson returned to her hometown of Agate, Illinois, to live with her Aunt Sarah, a known local psychic. Under her aunt's care and tutelage, Nola has been learning how to tap into her own intuitive gifts and communicate with the spirits. And she will rely on their insightful guidance when she's asked to help investigate a woman's disappearance.

Lilly Davidson, the missing woman, was living at the Phyllis Wheatley Institute for Colored Girls where young ladies are educated and prepared to follow bright futures. But she vanished after a night at the Wham Bam Club where jazz music swings, prohibition is defied, and other vices are encouraged. Lilly was seen fraternizing with Eddie Smooth, trumpeter and leader of the St. Louis Stompers—and a notorious pimp. Nola finds Lilly at the club alive and well, supposedly engaged to Eddie. That same night, the Wham Bam is set afire and Eddie is killed by gunfire, leaving Lilly on the run, a suspected murderer.

Eddie Smooth had shady dealings with Agate's wealthy elite, making plenty of enemies with motives for wanting him dead. He was also a notorious womanizer who left several broken hearts in his wake. To prove Lilly's innocence, Nola must listen to her spiritual instincts to unravel political schemes and personal vendettas to find a killer desperate to cover up a scandalous conspiracy . . .

Reviews

Goodreads review by Denise on July 02, 2025

This is an enormously fun start to a new historical mystery series featuring a 21-year-old spunky psychic, a young Black woman named Nola who returns home to Agate, Illinois after her husband is killed in the war, to live with her aunt, who is also into hoodoo magic. Home also brings with it trouble......more

Goodreads review by Martin on July 15, 2025

Kensington Publishing provided an early galley for review. An interesting title and cover is what drew me to this mystery set in the roaring '20s. The setting and time period offered up a different flavor of tale. Looking at the Wilkin's published work to date, I can see that music, mystery and psychi......more

Goodreads review by Ashli on June 03, 2025

A spellbinding jazz-soaked mystery with heart, history, and a heroine you won’t forget. Murder at the Wham Bam Club is everything I want in a historical mystery: richly atmospheric, socially aware, and driven by a fierce, intuitive protagonist. Set in a vividly drawn 1920s Illinois, the story thrums......more

Goodreads review by Courtney on May 22, 2025

This debut novel in a soon to be series is indeed an excellent read if you are looking for an American 1920's mystery. It has all the exciting elements such as prohibition, gangs, murder and the whole nine yards. If that is what you are looking in a novel then this is definitely the book for you. I......more

Goodreads review by David on July 29, 2025

Thanks to Net Galley for an advanced reader copy. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Prohibition-era speakeasies and the electric energy of the Roaring 1920s, this thrilling historical mystery delivers on every front. The author—herself a psychic medium and jazz pianist—infuses the narrative with a......more