Mob Queen

Set in the 1930s, Mob Queen follows one woman's rapid rise through the Mafia as she searches for the truth about what happened to her friend and navigates a perilous relationship with the infamous Bugsy Siegel.

All Virginia Hill wanted was a better life.

She escaped her abusive father and dreary, small-town Georgia existence by marrying a man who took her to Chicago. But the realities of the Depression--and her husband's volatile temper--soon destroyed Virginia's fragile idea of happiness. With the help of a new friend, Madeline, she finds the courage to stand up to her husband--only to end up divorced and destitute.

Down but not out, Virginia joins Madeline working as a waitress in one of the Mob's favorite hangouts, a restaurant smack-dab in the middle of the World's Fair. But when Madeline disappears after getting involved with the wrong Mafia man, Virginia vows to find her friend no matter what. But to do that, she'll have to follow Madeline into the heart of the Chicago Mob ...

As Virginia climbs the ranks and unravels the mystery of what happened to her friend, working for the Mafia proves both seductive and deadly. What started as a desperate attempt to find Madeline brings power she never imagined a poor girl from Georgia would ever have. It turns out a woman can be a mobster, but she'll have to give up her heart to do it.

Erin Bledsoe was told in middle school that her essay on Marie Antoinette showed promise, fueling her dream to write about historical women, particularly the ones that behave badly. When she's not writing, she's wrangling children, exploring nature, or rolling dice at a table with friends playing Dungeons & Dragons. She lives with her husband and children in Michigan, where she'll occasionally have her coffee outside just to watch the deer.