The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon

This review originally appeared on Historical novels review

Michael Malone is a lawman who forsakes all else in pursuit of justice. As a young beat cop, he extends kindnesses to ten-year-old Dani Flanagan when her parents are murdered in a Chicago mob hit. Years later, in 1938, their paths reconverge when Eliot Ness assigns Michael to investigate the Cleveland Torso murders. Both Dani and Michael are coming to grips with their lives.  In Dani’s case it is her supernatural abilities when “the cloth speaks to her,” inherited from her Bohemian family of tailors. Michael deals with the loss of his child and failed marriage, a casualty of his one-dimensional crime-fighting existence.

A mountain of clues is available to Michael and Ness, but as public pressure mounts on them to catch the heinous killer who preys on “the unknown, the uncared for, the unimportant,” it may be Dani who holds the key. As Michael learns about her quirky existence and abilities, a delightfully slow-burning romance unfolds where sensual moments are drawn deliberately and dramatically, true to the wonderment as Dani’s first love. Michael must awaken too, learn to live again, and shed his fears of commitment because, as Dani tells him, “…starting fresh sounds like an excuse not to care.” But Michael doesn’t want to chance putting Dani at risk while the dangerous killer lurks.

The Prohibition period and the historical supporting players, like Ness, are well researched, bringing us into a violent world of shadows, inequities, and power. The grimness of a notorious serial killer investigation is juxtaposed against protagonists Michael and Dani themselves, who provide a satisfying undercurrent of hope and the promise of fulfillment.