Shrine of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

 Let me start by saying that I love Kate Atkinson's writing: Case Histories, Started Early Took My Dog--even Life after Life (which was too long but still fascinating). But I was less enthralled with Shrines of Gaiety. It's 1926 in London and the star of the show is Nellie Coker, who owns a string of night clubs all over the city. She also has a flock of children--which is part of the problem. There are too many characters floating around, many of them not playing a very important role. The cops are trying to take down her empire--well, some of the more corrupt cops are trying to steal her empire. But there is an honest cop named Frobisher. He enlists a girl from out of town named Gwendolyn to be his undercover agent to help bring down Nellie Corker. Gwendolyn was truthfully the only character I really liked. She is feisty and fearless. Gwendolyn came to town to find 2 missing girls from her hometown--Freda and Florence--which is how she crossed paths with Frobisher. There are lots of drugs, abortions, murders, and unsavory characters in this book, if you like that sort of thing.

The notes at the end say that Nellie was based on a real character and many of the incidents in the book are based on real incidents.