The Lost Girl of Astor Street is a historical mystery romance series starter set in Chicago in the 1920s by Stephanie Morrill. Originally released in 2017, this reformat and re-release from HarperCollins on their Blink imprint is out 5th Aug 2025. It's 352 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The second book in the series (released concurrently, 5th Aug) is also currently available on KU.
The author is adept at characterization and plot, and the action moves the story along at a good pace. Full of prohibition era scenery and populated by secondary characters from the entire spectrum from law enforcement to organized crime, society girl on the cusp of young adulthood, Piper, just wants to find her best friend Lydia and get back to her life where the worst thing on her horizon is another rapped knuckle from her disgruntled home economics teacher.
She's soon drawn in to more than she really bargained for, but loyal and brave, she's not about to give up without finding out where Lydia is.
It's full of jazz age ambience and the author does a good job or making the content age appropriate (it's cozy and there's no extreme on-page violence). Although aimed at a YA audience, it's certainly engaging enough for adult readers as well.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 9 hours 59 minutes and is capably narrated by Megan Trout. She has a well modulated, neutral Midwestern accent for this read, and does a good job with all the disparate characters' range of ages and both sexes. Sound and production quality are high throughout.
Four stars. Well written and engaging. With two volumes out in the series, it would be a good choice for a short binge/buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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