A gripping novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law—a prosecutor and a madam—who team up to bring down notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York
Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, has her sights set on the one and only Lucky Luciano, head of New York City’s five largest organized crime families. Other prosectors have tried to bring down Lucky, but they’ve all focused on the crime syndicate’s traditional businesses—bootlegging, gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing—or tax evasion. No one has thought to approach the Mob through its role in prostitution. Until Eunice. But she can’t get Luciano alone.
Polly Adler has worked long and hard to build up her high-class brothel business. Her client list is filled with well-known names, both the famous and the infamous, who all know her booze is top-notch, her music first-rate, her food exquisite, and her girls the best. But Lucky has gone too far, putting her girls in danger, and Polly finally sees the chance to end his reign once and for all.
Together, Eunice and Polly fashion a case utilizing a network of women. Bridging the enormous divide between them and risking their own lives, they assemble evidence bit by bit, under the nose of the man they’re trying to convict. It is this very alliance—of two women from vastly different worlds—that launches the most sensational trial New York City has ever seen.

My Review:

Eunice Hunton Carter and Polly Adler couldn’t have had less in common – or seemingly less reason to find common cause – if they’d tried.

Carter was an attorney, the first black female prosecutor in the State of New York. The woman who helped to bring down one of the country’s most notorious mobsters, Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, as part of New York County Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey’s ‘mob’ of Assistant District Attorneys intent on bringing down mob and political corruption in New York in the mid 1930s.

Polly Adler was a Jewish immigrant from a small village in Russia. She arrived in New York at age 13, with no family to support her, became a garment worker, was raped by her boss, and eventually became one of the most celebrated madams in New York City. ‘Polly’s House’, a famous, high-class brothel, was a place where the rich and famous hung out, got drunk, and were able to indulge in the kind of vice that no one talked about in polite company.

At the beginning of this story, they had one thing in common. They both wanted to get Lucky Luciano put behind bars. Both of their motives included a bit of self-serving. Carter wanted to prove her worth, to get a feather in her cap, and as the only woman and the only person of color on Dewey’s team, she needed to work twice as hard to get half the recognition of the men on the team and she knew it. Adler wanted Luciano out of her business. Her business may have been illegal, but it was hers, and she did the best she could by her ‘girls’ and her employees. A best that was surprisingly good until Luciano and his criminal ‘Combination’ began their racket of coercing all the prostitutes and madams into a single organization that ran them all into early graves.

Carter’s role in Luciano’s trial is well documented. Not nearly as prominent as it should have been, but the documentation is all there to discover and/or uncover, as the authors of this book certainly did.

Polly Adler was celebrated in her day, and wrote her own autobiography in order to tell the truth, or at least a part of it, in regards to her own legacy. Where Carter’s life and especially her contributions to Dewey’s team and Luciano’s case are part of the historical record, Adler’s contribution is less certain and quite possibly entirely speculative. If Adler’s part of the case were true, it’s a secret the two women would have both needed to take to their graves. And maybe they did.

But whether Adler’s half of this story is true or merely fiction, taken together Carter’s truth and Adler’s innuendo combine to tell a compelling story of two women, each at the top of their entirely opposite games, who may have stood together in the shadows to bring justice and an end to a vast and sweeping criminal enterprise.

Because of Carter’s – and possibly both women’s – work, while Thomas Dewey may not have been able to later defeat Harry Truman for the presidency, (yes, this is THAT Dewey), but he was able to defeat Lucky Luciano for the heart and soul of New York.

Escape Rating A: I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, no matter how much my brain kept sticking on whether or not Polly’s part of the story was true. It was plausible and that was enough to quiet my willing suspension of disbelief and allow me to settle into the story.

Which was certainly aided and abetted by the quality of the audiobook narration. Barrie Kreinik, whose narration was absolutely the best thing about an otherwise lackluster book, The Sirens, did a terrific job as Polly Adler, while Robin Miles was every single bit as good at portraying Eunice Carter. Together, they did a fantastic job of showing the differences between the two characters, between Polly slight accent, her pragmatic turns of phrase and usage of underworld cant vs Eunice precise, educated and cultured diction.

The two women came from very different worlds, and it showed in every world they uttered as well as exactly how they uttered it. Something that their narrators handled with aplomb.

Back to the story, which is told from their alternating first-person perspectives. They have the same goal, but not for the same motives. They don’t trust each other. They don’t even like each other. They don’t become intimate friends – they can’t even be seen together. Not just because they’re on opposite sides of the case, but because they’ll both be lynched – even in New York City – if a white woman – even a notorious madam like Polly Adler, and a black woman are seen to be actually socializing.

The conversation they eventually have about which one of them had more to contend with in their lives is eye-opening because of how truthful and REAL it is even if it never happened.

The story doesn’t shy away from the difficulties they each face. Not just Carter’s constant fight for the opportunities and the respect she should be due, as well as her ongoing conflict with a husband who can’t understand why being a wife and mother will never be enough for her. But also the notoriety and constant threat of prosecution that Adler faces for surviving in the only way that was ever open to her. As one of her girls says early on, “no little girl dreams of growing up to be a whore”. But it’s often the choice left in a life of circumstances beyond their control.

What keeps the reader turning pages and/or listening with bated breath, is the way that the case proceeds like a tennis match, bouncing from Carter’s perspective to Adler’s, with tribulations and desperations on both sides even if they’re not the same troubles besetting each woman.

At the same time, the story does an excellent job of bringing its time and place, New York City and especially Harlem in the 1930s to vibrant life. We’re with these women in their triumph, even though they couldn’t openly share that triumph with each other.

In the end, I enjoyed this a lot and got surprisingly caught up in it even though the broad outlines of the story are already known. I liked the way the story was presented with its contrasting viewpoints and it was very engaging, to the point where I just bought copies of both of the authors’ previous collaborations, The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies, in both ebook and audio, for future listening pleasure.