The Paragon Hotel By Lindsay Faye

Alice James’ nickname is Nobody. It suits her, since Alice James is on the run. It’s 1921, and Alice has just bolted from New York (and everyone out to get her) to Oregon, where she settles at the city’s only Black-only hotel thanks to a fast friendship with the hotel porter. The hotel's the other residents are initially uncomfortably, as Alice is Welsh-Italian. Still, she’s by their side as they’re rollicked by a tragedy: the disappearance of a young boy just as the KKK presence is rising. Faye crafts a fast-paced mystery that’s also steeped in a fascinating, and unfortunately all too prescient, part of American history. If you ever dressed up as a flapper for Halloween or love to stay up all night reading mysteries, Paragon Hotel is for you.