Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman

Item: Last Dance Before Dawn
Rating: 5
Author: BaronessMom

Posted September 22, 2025 by BaronessMom in Historical Fiction, Mystery, Review, Series / 0 Comments

Last Dance Before Dawn

by Katharine Schellman

Series: Nightingale Mysteries #4
Series Rating:

Published by Minotaur Books on June 17, 2025
Setting: New York
Genres: Historical Mystery
Pages: 346
Format: Audible Audiobook, Audio CD, ebook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: NetGalley
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: The Last Drop of Hemlock

Last Dance before Dawn is the final book in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York.

Vivian Kelly has finally created a home and a family at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where no one cares who you are in the daytime. After all, in the underground world of 1920s New York City, everyone has a secret to keep, and they’re on the Nightingale's dance floor to leave those secrets behind. But sometimes it takes more than a dance to escape your past.

When a stranger from Chicago shows up at The Nightingale looking to settle old scores, Vivian and the Nightingale's owner, the mysterious and alluring Honor Huxley, send him packing. They soon discover, though, that the stranger was just a warning. Slowly, the people who have made The Nightingale their home realize that someone is following them. Hunting them. And that someone won’t stop until they unravel a mystery that’s been cold for years: a missing girl, a boy out for revenge, and a truck full of cash that disappeared in a job gone horribly wrong.

Vivian just wants to protect the people she loves, and she's willing to dig into the dirt of the past to make it happen. But some questions are safer left unanswered, and now that Vivian has built a family for herself, she has more to lose than ever before.

Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman is a fantastic read.

Will Vivian learn to trust before it is too late?

Vivian Kelly

Our sleuth and main character is Vivian Kelly. Now that her sister is married off and has a baby, Vivian is somewhat lost and lonely. She just isn’t feeling the thrill of life like she was. Vivian misses Florence, even though they don’t live that far away from each other. It must be hard when the only family you have ever known grows up and makes their own family.

Vivian has so much growth in this story. She truly finds her own happiness, yet also experiences so much heartache. I was so thrilled that she found her happiness and her place in the world. The choices that she makes won’t be easy either, but at least she knows what she wants and isn’t afraid this time to go for it.

The heartache that Vivian and Florence go through is horrible. Yet it sounds like the two of them are resilient and are moving forward.

The Mystery

Mr. O’Keefe is back in town, and he isn’t messing around. He wants Hugh Brown, but no one really knows who Hugh is. O’Keefe doesn’t care, and they had better find this man or else. One of their friends was killed. Then they find their father is in town, but it isn’t the happy reunion that the girls hoped for. I have to say that I felt so sorry for Vivi and Flo. They want a family so bad, but they need to look at the one that has already chosen them.

Five Stars

My rating for Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman is five stars. This is the last installment in the series, and I couldn’t be happier with the ending. The author brings so much authenticity to this series. I could run around the Nightengale at night with the lights off and still know my way. This is such a fabulous series, please check it out, Pal. I think you will love the descriptions, characters, and mysteries that Ms. Schellman came up with.

Nightingale Mysteries

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman.

Until the next time,

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About Katharine Schellman

Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Lily Adler Mysteries (Crooked Lane Books) and the Nightingale Mysteries (Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press). Her books, which reviewers have praised as “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout” (Library Journal, starred review), have received multiple accolades, including being named a Library Journal Best Crime Fiction of 2022, a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2020, and a New York Times editor’s pick in June 2022. Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.

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