I was lucky for once and won a Kindle copy of Black City Saint by Richard A. Knaak. It was just after I had received my first ARC for a review.   That one was being released soon and they asked the review go up on release day and the same thing happened again and again so I kept putting Black City Saint on hold. I still have a few books, well, 6 or 7 books that I have been asked to review. But I needed a break to read something Just for me. And It had me from the first page.

I never read a review of a book beforehand. In fact I try to not read anything about a book before I read it. I find the less I know what to expect the better I enjoy it and the better my review. But there is always an authors past books that can sway your expectations of what a book might be about. So I was expecting a swords and sorcery book with dragons. That is what I got. I wasn’t expecting it to take place in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties.

How could I have got both? Oh you always ask the best questions.  Well ok so the Dragon is just a spirit His soul bound to the Protagonist, Nick Medea. He is the gatekeeper (“Are you the Keymaster?” sorry couldn’t help myself) Where was I ? Oh yeah He is the Gatekeeper tasked with keeping faerie creatures out of our world. I am not talking about Tinkerbell either. No i am talking about the Fae Court that wants to kill all humans type. And he has been doing it a long time.

Richard Knaak always does a great job. Writing great characters and good story lines. But you could tell this was something he had worked extra hard on. The Characters are excellent and fully fleshed out. The opening scene makes you feel the rain wet sidewalks of a Chicago night. I was instantly immersed in the story, and I didn’t want to leave it. Throughout the book it seemed every time one question was answered two more were asked. So I had to just read one more chapter to find out what happened next.

I Want more and will have to wait until March for Black City Demon to be released. To help hold me over till then I wrote my summery in 20’s slang Enjoy it

Hot dawg* This book really is the Bee’s Knees* and that ant no applesauce* with Characters that are hip to the jive*. And real bug-eyed Betty* type of monsters that will give you the heebie-jeebies*, All in a real swell* setting. This book is the cat’s meow* And how*.  Well worth a few clams*  Knaak hit on all sixes* and I am not chewing gum* here.  Black City Saint is sitting pretty* with 4.25 out of 5 stars.

And yes your grandparents or great-grandparents probably talked like that.

• And how!: I strongly agree!
•  applesauce: flattery, nonsense, i.e.. “Aw, applesauce!”
•      bee’s knee’s: terrific; a fad expression. Dozens of “animal anatomy” variations existed such as: elephant’s eyebrows, gnat’s whistle, eel’s hips, etc.
• bug-eyed Betty: an unattractive girl, student.
• bunk: nonsense
• cat’s meow: great, also “cat’s pajamas” and “cat’s whiskers”
• cat’s Pajamas: Same as cat’s meow
• chewing gum: double-speak, or ambiguous talk.
• chin music: gossip
• clam: a dollar
• copacetic: excellent
• ducky: very good
• heebie-jeebies: “the shakes,” named after a hit song.
• hip to the jive: cool, trendy
• hit on all sixes: to perform 100 per cent; as “hitting on all six cylinders”; perhaps a more common variation in these days of four cylinder engines was “hit on all fours”. See “big six
• Hot dawg!: Great!; also: “Hot socks!” Rarely spelled as shown outside of flapper circles until popularized by 1940s comic strips.
• Jake: great, ie. “Everything’s Jake.”
• Nerts!: I am amazed!
• nifty: great, excellent
• on the level: legitimate, honest
• Real McCoy: a genuine item
• whoopee: wild fun
• swell: (1) good (2) a high class person
• sitting pretty: in a prime position