Having read the excellent Miss Aldridge Regrets, I was looking forward to reading the next instalment of Lena Aldridge’s story. Lena is in New York with Will Goodman and gets introduced to his family and friends. The story begins with the death of a woman falling from a window. Was it suicide or murder? The story travels back in time to detail the events that lead to the women’s death. An excellent novel about family, revenge and perhaps most of all racism. The novel is well plotted (although slightly contrived) and the setting in 1930’s Harlem and its Jazz clubs is beautifully described. A great read.

Delving into "Miss Aldridge Regrets" was a pleasure, and my anticipation only heightened as I looked forward to continuing Lena and Will's story upon their arrival in New York. Lena's journey unfolds as she seeks information about her father's life in the bustling city, uncovering surprising details, including the existence of an aunt she had never known.

As Lena embarks on the quest for details about her newfound aunt, the narrative weaves through the vibrant backdrop of New York. Her exploration leads her to become intricately involved with Will, as she immerses herself in his world—lodging with his friends in Harlem and forming connections with his stepsister and niece.

The evolving dynamics and connections between Lena and Will, set against the backdrop of the vibrant city and its diverse communities, promise a captivating continuation of their story. With each revelation and encounter, the narrative unfolds, drawing readers deeper into the complexities of Lena's newfound family ties and her growing connection with Will. "Miss Aldridge Regrets" sets the stage for a compelling exploration of relationships, identity, and the rich tapestry of life in New York.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I wasn't in love with the previous book that I found a bit too slow at times but I loved this one, the follow up.
Miss Aldridge is in NY and there's mysteries, a man who is not what he seems, family secrets and lies.
A lot is going on and the pace is right, there's an exciting atmosphered and the whodunit is solid and well done.
This is not the final book in this series so I'm curious about the next developments.
It' can't be read as a stand alone but it's an entertaining story if you read both.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I had no idea, when I was granted a free ARC of Hare’s novel, that ‘Harlem after Midnight’ forms part of a book series set in the 1930s, the so-called ‘Canary Club Mysteries’, and was mildly annoyed with myself for not having read the first instalment in the series. However, only a few pages in, I forgot all about this and began to really enjoy the literary landscape that Hare develops for us, characterised by multiple timelines and viewpoints. Her protagonist is Lena Aldridge, a young multiracial Englishwoman recently arrived in New York, who is trying to make it in the city’s music clubs during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. On a daily basis, Lena has to fight against some stiff competition, financial hardships, and societal prejudice. Simultaneously, she is also trying to find out more about her familial background. With so many aspects being pursued, there is plenty going on in this novel that is as enjoyable as it is thought-provoking. Recommended for readers who enjoy ‘whodunnits’ at the intersection of historical fiction and domestic thrillers – I will certainly be looking out for the first book in the series, and for more of Louise Hare’s exquisite writing!

An interesting read, I wish I had read the first book Miss Aldridge regrets before starting this book as a lot of it referred back to it so my advice would be to do that. Other than that it was an enjoyable book, the big crime mentioned in the blurb doesn’t happen to at least halfway through so there is alot of background to lead up to it.
I’d probably have a more positive review if I’d read it in order.

Second in the Canary Club mysteries series, after really enjoying the cruise ship murder mystery Miss Aldridge Regrets earlier this year I couldn’t wait to find out what was next for protagonist Lena, quite literally fresh off the boat in New York City.
This sequel picks up where the last one left off, with singer Lena getting to grips with the Big Apple, and a brand new relationship with musician Will, while trying to find out more about where she came from.
While the first novel was a fast paced series of murders and more of a whodunnit throughout, this one starts off with a mysterious accident, (or was it?!) and is told through various flashbacks and flash forwards.
It also delves a lot deeper into Lena’s family history, and we find out much more about her late father Alfie’s background, as she tries to trace any surviving family members and find out more about his life before having her.

I would suggest reading these books in order, as there are several references in this one to the first, and you get more immersed in the story that way. I had the chance to listen to this one as an audiobook, thanks to Netgalley, and really enjoyed the different accents which set the scene and brought this to life.

Having enjoyed “Miss Aldridge Regrets”, I was looking forward to following the story of Lena and Will after their arrival in New York. We follow Lena as she looks for news of her father’s life in New York, and discovery that she had an aunt that she had never heard about before. While she then searches for information on her aunt, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Will, staying with his friends in Harlem and meeting his stepsister and niece.

However, all is not straightforward for Will, as we learn more about his history and increasingly difficult relationship with his sister. While Lena and Will grow closer, they both struggle to decide where they belong and what the best course of action will be after their fortnight together comes to an end.

Interspersed with this is the flashforward discovery of a young woman who has fallen from Lena’s bedroom window, and flashbacks to the life of Lena’s father while he too was living in New York. The plot is easily followed, but I would recommend reading the previous title first as it may be difficult to keep track of all of the characters’ relationships if read as a standalone novel.

The setting of Harlem in the 1930s, with its background of clubs and music, was really well-researched and evocative. The writing was smooth and the characters intriguing. I enjoyed this sequel more than the previous instalment, and look forward to the next in the series.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

Mystery, glamour and murder in 1930s New York
We are reunited with Lena from Miss Aldridge Regrets and this sequel follows on from Lena’s arrival in Harlem, she is determined to find out more about her father’s past.
There’s plenty to unravel, I love a good historical crime novel.
So beautifully written, a perfect cosy night autumn read.
Thanks @lourhare, @hqstories and @netgalley for the eARC

I devoured Harlem After Midnight in a few short sessions. I was very quickly drawn into the world of Lena Aldridge in Harlem and loved all the Jazz references.
Loved the characterisation and the romance and mystery intertwining.
The book is set in two time frames, 1930s Harlem and early 1900s Harlem which meant there were two mysteries to follow. Loved it!

This was an easy to read, and enjoyable book. I am grateful to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read an ARC. Set in Harlem at two instances early in the 20th Century I was transported back to an age and place I didn't feel I knew much about - and whilst I appreciate how far fiction can be from fact I found the discussion of what it was like to be black in Harlem during those periods. The story was well told - we know from the outset that a woman dies, and it was clear that the book's purpose would be to reveal how she died and at whose hand - but the revealing of the relationships between the different characters and ordering of the story was, I thought, quite clever. There were elements of the characters I didn't like and it annoyed me that the author kept harking back to events which had clearly been told in another book - I didn't feel that the constant reference to things happening previously and the fact that these references were only partial, leaving much untold really annoyed me at times. It is for this reason that I give the book a 4*. Having said that I liked the book enough that I do now want to go and read the previous story in this series!

An easy read sequel to the previous book, but having read it some while ago I was hazy about the detail of that. Needed more ‘story so far’ for me to make sense of the sequel - I found myself having to look up a synopsis on the net to remind me of the previous tale.

Lena Aldridge has fetched up in New York. After the horrible events on the Queen Mary, Lena is pleased to have found romance with Will Goodman and he helps her find a place to stay with his friends. As their relationship blossoms Lena tries to find out more about her family but also discovers a lot more about Will's history. After a sudden death, Lena must decide where her future lies.
This is the third book in Hare's story about Lena Aldridge, a bi-racial singer in the 1930s. Here the focus is New York and the uneasy relations between black and white and levels of society. I loved the setting in Harlem and places such as The Apollo and the Cotton Club. However at it's heart this is a story about family ties and revenge. Sometimes the plot feels a lott too contrived but I genuinely love the journey.

Harlem after Midnight by Louise Hare takes the reader back to the the 1930s in Harlem.

This is the second novel in a series after Hare's Miss Aldrige Regrets featuring Lena Aldridge. I had not read Miss Alrige's Regrets and feel that I would have beenfitted a great deal by having done so. However, the story includes an unexplained death and how and why this happened together with a narrative that takes on two time periods with that from years ago being about Lena's father when he was younger. Both story line sheds light on socio, economic and racial lines of the time.

| enjoyed the story overall and would give this 3.5/5 rounded up to 4. I felt that i was missing quite a lot by not having read Miss Aldrige Regrets.

Would I recommend this - possibly but with the provisio that you probably need to read Miss Aldrige Regrets first.

Thak you HQ and NetGalley for the ARC in excahnge for an impartial review.

promising a blend of mystery and historical fiction. However, the novel falls short of its potential, leaving readers feeling unsatisfied.

Ever since the final page of Miss Aldridge Regrets I’d wondered what would happen next to Lena, who had managed to escape the clutches of a murderer, find her birth mother and become the lover of band leader Will all on board ship. She was sailing to New York to audition for a new musical on Broadway, but became embroiled in the life of a rich NYC family after being placed with them for dinner. Now in New York, what would become of her relationships - both with her mother and with Will? Would she be able to find work after finding out the Broadway job was a ruse to get her on the voyage? I was shocked when the novel began with a woman, sprawled on the sidewalk after failing from a high rise window. As the police arrived and start to look at the body they notice she’s clutching something in her hand. It’s a passport in the name of Lena Aldridge. The author then takes us back to Lena’s arrival in NYC nine days earlier, when Will had taken her to stay with friends of his until the return voyage. What could possibly have gone so wrong?

Lena has found herself dragged into Will’s world, perhaps a little sooner than would be expected in a conventional relationship. As Will takes leave she wonders if this will give them time to test their relationship out and whether they could have a future. His friends Claudette and Louis are a lovely couple who live in a good neighbourhood in Harlem. Claudette is a librarian and she settles Lena into their spare bedroom, telling her about how long they have known Will and that they’re looking forward to getting to know her. Will’s only family is his sister Belle and niece Joey, who he stays with when the ship’s on a fortnight turnaround. The five are pretty close knit, apart from the obvious tension between Will and his sister, despite which he absolutely adores his niece. Even though she’s wary, Lena and Belle get along enough to go out shopping and have cocktails in a fancy bar. I started to feel this creeping sensation that Lena was on the outside of something. The three friends have secrets and so does Belle, is it because Lena is new to the group and maybe not quite trusted yet? Is there something about her being British that makes them think she won’t get it? She is surprised to find out That despite their animosity, Will does go to any lengths to protect his sister. Lena is patient though, she has concerns about her own situation and doesn’t want to delve too far into their secrets, without knowing what’s going to happen between her and Will. It’s too early to say love or talk about permanence. She doesn’t even know if she could find herself living in Harlem. Lena’s also looking for people who knew her father to learn about his early life and if there’s family that Lena’s never met. There are also financial and emotional issues in her relationship with her mother that must be resolved. It’s a huge crossroads to negotiate and the tension builds as we start rooting for her future and worrying she’s plummeted to her death.

I love this combination of historical crime mystery, especially those set in such a stylish city and time period. I think in a lot of ways this was a more successful novel than the first and I definitely felt the time period in the social life of Harlem and the contrasting Sunday church going. The glamour of New York was set beautifully against those less fortunate and I was interested in the way colour had some bearing on this; Lena and Belle can ‘pass’ as white enough to get into a fancy bar, but the much darker skinned Will would have struggled. I enjoyed these deeper looks into racial divisions, class and privilege, as well as how they differed in the earlier timeline. Lena being bi-racial didn’t seem to have the same complexity in London as it did in New York, but she is reminded a few times that it would be worse in the south. There are references to lynchings, the prejudice around mixed race relationships (both for Alfie and his daughter) and the exploitation of black women by wealthy white men. In this earlier timeline I enjoyed this exploration of young black women’s lives as well as the contrast with the relative freedom Lena and Belle are enjoying. Have things changed or is it their lighter skin?

I thought the historical element really came to life and I enjoyed these sections that went back even further to 1908, when her father Alfie suddenly fled New York for London. As both of these storylines started to reveal their secrets, the novel became intense and gripping. I had suspicions around both Claudette and her husband, because although they were there for Lena in a practical sense they didn’t give much of themselves emotionally. There were also certain morals to their way of life, such as Will not staying with Lena at their flat. I wasn’t sure that they actually liked her, but wanted to do a favour for Will. The central mystery really held my attention and remained tense even with the flashbacks in-between. The more building blocks we had to construct Lena’s, the more I felt I knew her and the hope she’d have a happy ending grew for me. I would suggest reading the first novel before this one as there are links and recurring characters throughout. There was an open ended feel to the final chapter so who knows we may be able to spend time with Lena again. I’d be more than happy to join her.

Loved it! I was completely and utterly immersed in that world and cast back in time from the very first chapter.. great characters, fab plot and had me hooked in from the very first few pages. 100% recommend!

Second book of a series - would be hard as a standalone. Great historical drama which will keep you guessing.

“Harlem after Midnight” by Louise Hare attempts to transport readers to the atmospheric scene of Harlem in the 1930s, promising a blend of mystery and historical fiction. However, the novel falls short of its potential, leaving readers feeling unsatisfied.

The novel opens with a crime scene, as the story unfolds, the plot is divided into two distinct threads that never quite come together cohesively.

While the book maintains an air of mystery throughout, it fails to provide satisfying resolutions to the mysteries it presents. There are numerous references to past events that are confusing and never adequately explained or clarified, leaving the reader frustrated.

“Harlem after Midnight” is the second installment in a series, but it lacks the standalone quality that would allow new readers to jump into the story without feeling lost, it relies too much on knowledge from the first book.

While “Harlem after Midnight” offers a promising setting and an initial intriguing crime scene, it ultimately fails to deliver on its potential due to disjointed plotlines, unresolved mysteries, and a heavy reliance on prior knowledge from the series. This lack of cohesion and explanation makes it an unsatisfying read for those not already invested in the series.

I liked Harlem After Midnight more than the first book featuring Lena Aldridge, Miss Aldridge Regrets. It's atmospheric and while there's a bit of backstory from the incidents of the first, I thought this was a more tense and satisfying read. Nice set up with the opening scenes and then a build up to the ending, with interesting characters.

I found it difficult to get into this book. Maybe it’s because I missed out on reading the prequel. However I am sure it will appeal to those knowing more about the characters.

September, 1936. Night club singer Lena Aldridge, fresh from her brush with murder during her London-New York passage on the glamorous Queen Mary, finds herself with time on her hands in the Big Apple. Staying in Harlem with friends of Will Goodman, the pianist who turned her head on the voyage, Lena is curious to see where their relationship will lead during her visit, and whether it will make her rethink her plans.

In many ways Harlem is very different from the world Lena has left behind, but under the surface there are similarities with the gritty Soho scene she knows so well... and it is the perfect location for her to try to discover more about her father Alfie, and what made him flee from his life here as a musician to London in 1908 - while trying to work out how this all fits with the shocking truth about the identity of her New York society mother. As Lena's investigation into Alfie's past unfurls she is unsettled to find that there are a lot more secrets he kept hidden from her than she thought. She also begins to realise that Will has secrets of his own - secrets that will lead her into danger.

The action picks up a few days after Lena's arrival in New York, with a young woman falling from the window of a third storey apartment in Harlem - the very one that Lena is currently staying in. The unidentified woman is clutching Lena's passport in her hand, and she does not look likely to survive. Hare then cleverly weaves a dual timeline story flipping between 1936 with the tale of Lena's dangerous New York adventure in the days leading up to the tragedy - cut with dramatic events of the aftermath - and 1908 when we finally learn the truth about what made Alfie leave his homeland and flee to London. Both timelines are full of intricately woven threads of mystery, with deliciously echoed themes of family secrets, betrayal and carefully plotted, cold-hearted revenge. Hare keeps you guessing about the how events will play out in the past and the present with well-conceived twists, turns, and well timed reveals, set against the heady tapestry of the city that never sleeps, until she floors you with a truth that you will not see coming.

You really do have to have read Hare's first Lena Aldridge mystery, Miss Aldridge Regrets, before coming to this book, as so much of what happens leads on from Lena's London life, the murderous events aboard the Queen Mary, and the knowledge that knocked her for six on the voyage. As Hare's first foray into the Golden Age crime genre, it is lots of fun too, full of atmospheric ocean liner glamour and intrigue. This second Lena Aldridge mystery has a different feel, with a greater injection of the noir vibes that I love, and it also brings with it more of the kind of weighty themes that Hare explored in her stunning debut This Lovely City, especially when it comes to class and the barriers thrown up against people of colour.

Hare is very much warming to detective fiction in this book, balancing character development, slick plotting, and emotional power to perfection. First and foremost though, this is a story about family, friendship, love, and sacrifice.... with a big dose of jazz! I loved it!