Photo courtesy of Stephanie’s editor–the first to get her hands on the hardback

You’ll be seeing more about this book from me in a couple weeks, when it releases. But I had to give y’all a sneak peek now, because there are some extras you can get if you pre-order, and they’re fun enough to make it worth clicking that button a few weeks early. 😉 (You just email your receipt to LostGirl@harpercollins.com and they send you some fun downloads.)

So a couple years ago, my best friend, Stephanie Morrill, (author of The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt Series and The Ellie Sweet Series) said she had an idea for a historical YA.

Insert Roseanna laughing maniacally and saying, “I knew it! I knew you’d come over to the dark side of historicals eventually! Mwa ha ha ha!”

Ahem.

Her idea was set in 1920s Chicago, which is an awesome setting. One which I’d in fact used before in a MS called Mafia Princess which still sits, sad and forlorn, in my folder of finished but unpublished manuscripts. (Sniff, sniff. Be patient, Sabina and Lorenzo–you may yet find your time…) Happy as a clam that my best friend was finally seeing reason and writing historicals, I promptly sent her all my research books, bought her a book on historical fashion for her birthday, and solemnly swore to answer any questions she had on the history in particular or historicals in general, if I could.

The result: The Lost Girl of Astor Street.

I cannot gush enough about this book. This book is awesome. This book is beautiful. This book is fun. I am happy beyond measure that Blink has picked it up, and thoroughly jazzed at this: HARDBACK!!!!!

I’m eagerly awaiting my pre-ordered copy to arrive in February, but in the meantime, I’m gearing up to help promote. So eventually, you’ll see my full review. For now, this from me is on the back cover:

“Morrill delivers a story that has it all – mystery, the mafia, and a heroine you can’t help but root for. If Veronica Mars met the Roaring Twenties, you’d end up with The Lost Girl of Astor Street.” ~ Roseanna White, author of The Lost Heiress

Here’s the official blurb:

When her best friend vanishes without so much
as a good-bye, eighteen-year-old Piper Sail takes on the role of
amateur sleuth in an attempt to solve the mystery of Lydia’s
disappearance. Given that Piper’s tendency has always been to butt heads
with high-society’s expectations of her, it’s no surprise that she
doesn’t give a second thought to searching for answers to Lydia’s
abduction from their privileged neighborhood.

As Piper discovers
that those answers might stem from the corruption strangling 1924
Chicago—and quite possibly lead back to the doors of her affluent
neighborhood—she must decide how deep she’s willing to dig, how much she
should reveal, and if she’s willing to risk her life of privilege for
the sake of the truth.

Perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Anna
Godbersen, Stephanie Morrill’s atmospheric jazz-age mystery will take
readers from the glitzy homes of the elite to the dark underbelly of
1920s Chicago.