Review: High-Wire Heartbreak

 High-Wire Heartbreak

by Anna Schmidt

About the Book

In 1936–A party at the Ringling mansion Ca’ d’Zan in Sarasota, Florida, leads to a robbery–and possibly death.

A successful historical mystery writer, Chloe Whitfield comes to Ca’ d’Zan to research her next novel. Chloe’s fascination with the circus is rooted in family stories of her great-grandmother Lucinda Conroy, who reportedly was a trapeze artist of some renown. She’s heard hints of scandal–and perhaps larceny, but no details.

Chloe’s grandmother–rumored to be Lucinda’s only offspring–was raised in an orphanage and never knew her mother. Intrigued as she is, Chloe has no intent of writing about Lucinda until she sees a poster featuring Lucinda as the star performer for a 70th birthday gala for John Ringling in May of 1936. From there the trail goes cold.

Who was Lucinda and what happened to her?

My Thoughts

When I first heard about this book, I was immediately drawn to it. I LOVE the 1930s and I love stories with a circus setting. This book surprised me in many ways.

My heart went out to Lucy. It was so aggravating to read how poorly Marty and his family treated her. Yet it was so interesting to read about her going undercover to escape the false accusations thrust at her. There was such intrigue reading about her life in hiding. I was glad to see her find happiness after leaving Ca’ d’Zan. The historical part of the book was by far my favorite.

Chloe was a bit hard for me to relate to. Sometimes she seemed to be kind of a jerk, especially when dealing with her assistant. There were times when I could excuse her hard exterior seeing as she had previously dealt with a stalker, but other times I felt like she was unnecessarily harsh with people. But I did appreciate the way she cared enough about her grandmother and great-grandmother to find out the truth about Lucy.

Filled with mystery and glittering historical detail, High-Wire Heartbreak is a solid choice for readers that enjoy their historical novels with a good dose of suspense.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.