Book Review - Westside Saints by W.M. Akers

Westside Saints by W.M. Akers is about a private detective, Gilda Carr, who specializes in finding tiny treasures and solving tiny mysteries. In 1922, six months ago from the start of our story, there was a civil war that ruined the Westside of Manhattan. The residents are still facing the aftermath from the war. In the Lower West, the area is frozen, and life is hard. Gilda Carr nearly died during the war after she tried to protect her city. Now, she wanders the streets and is cold and weary. She hopes for something better even though life seems bleak.

While spending her days drinking, she comes across a friend whose family wants to hire Gilda to solve a mystery for them. They want her to find a biblical relic, a saint’s finger, that was stolen from their church. The church needs to find the relic because the church leaders believe it’s the cornerstone of their promise of an “electric resurrection” when the dead will return to life. Gilda is hesitant to believe that can happen. However, that all changes when her mother, Mary Fall, who has been dead for years, walks through the parlor door. Mary doesn’t remember anything of her daughter or how she died. Gilda wants to keep Mary’s resurrection a secret so they can work together to investigate what brought her back to life. 

When I spotted this book, I didn’t realize it was a part of a series. It wasn’t made very clear when I picked up the novel, that it was the second book in the series. Unlike other serialized books, this series needs to be read in order. I found the story to be confusing and the writing wasn’t the easiest for me to get into. I had to re-read the same sentence several times. I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the characters so, I was not motivated to keep reading. I quickly abandoned this novel a few chapters in as it wasn’t worth my time anymore.