What do you think?
Rate this book
Sam Russo Mystery #3
The Girl in the Next Room
Can Jane a dog and Sam a man (not to mention Mrs. Willingford, a woman of great means in so many ways) take on a whole hidden club of murderous perverts? Well, Jane can - with the help of the Irish mob.
Holly lives in Room 4-B, the shabby room next to Sam Russo's. She's a man. He's a woman. Sam doesn't care. He likes Holly. His dog Jane likes Holly. Life is fine until a Lagonda rolls through Stapleton, a small town on the northern end of Staten Island. Getting into that car, Holly's just turned the worst trick of her life.
When Holly disappears, Russo, Private Eye, and Jane, more than a partner, find themselves lost in a sordid world of hidden mansions, a twisted social club, and high society secret cabals.
Holly lives in Room 4-B, the shabby room next to Sam Russo's. She's a man. He's a woman. Sam doesn't care. He likes Holly. His dog Jane likes Holly. Life is fine until a Lagonda rolls through Stapleton, a small town on the northern end of Staten Island. Getting into that car, Holly's just turned the worst trick of her life.
When Holly disappears, Russo, Private Eye, and Jane, more than a partner, find themselves lost in a sordid world of hidden mansions, a twisted social club, and high society secret cabals.
306 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2013
26 people are currently reading
634 people want to read
About the author
Ki Longfellow
20 books1,432 followersKi Longfellow, born on Staten Island, New York, to a French-Irish mother and an Iroquois father, grew up in Hawaii and Marin County, California, but ended up living in France and England for many years. She is the widow of a British national treasure, the complete artist Vivian Stanshall.
In England, she created and sailed the Thekla, a 180 foot Baltic Trader, to the port of Bristol where it became the Old Profanity Showboat. It remains there today as a Bristol landmark. On it, she and Vivian wrote and staged a unique musical for the sheer joy of it. "Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera," garnered a host of delighted, if slightly puzzled, national reviews.
Her first book, "China Blues," was the subject of a bidding war. "China Blues," and her second novel, "Chasing Women," introduced Longfellow to Hollywood... a long hard but ultimately fascinating trip. ("China Blues" was reissued by Eio Books in 2012.)
When Vivian died in 1995, Ki stopped writing, living on Standing Room Only Farm in Vermont. Time may not heal, but it tempers. Eventually Ki began writing again, but her subject became the moment at age 19 that informed her life... a direct experience with the Divine. She chose the figure of Mary Magdalene to tell that tale in her novel "The Secret Magdalene." Nancy Savoca, a brilliant independent film maker (winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize with her first film, "True Love") traveled all the way to Vermont to option the book as her next film.
Ki's second book on the Divine Feminine is "Flow Down Like Silver," a novel about the numinous and gifted Hypatia of Alexandria, a tragically ignored historical figure of towering intellect who searched through intellect for what the Magdalene knew in her heart.
In a huge departure from her all she'd written before, Longfellow found herself weaving a tale of supernatural horror called "Houdini Heart." This book was selected by the Horror Writers of America as one of a handful of books to be considered for their 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Best Horror Novel.
In the Spring of 2013 the first three titles of her Sam Russo noir murder mystery series was published by Eio Books: "Shadow Roll," "Good Dog, Bad Dog," and "The Girl in the Next Room." There is a fourth title "Dead on the Rocks" available and there may be more. Or maybe not.
In December, 2013, she released a tale of one woman's attempt to survive lost in the Sonoran Desert: "Walks Away Woman."
She’s at work on the third and last book in her Divine Feminine series. Meant to be one thing, it's become quite another thing. Writers may think they know what they're going to write, but they can be very wrong. This book is "The White Bee".
In late January of 2018 she published the art book, biography, and memoir she'd promised Vivian Stanshall she would one day write for him: "The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall, a Fairytale of Grimm Art".
in the early months of 2018 three more of her books were optioned for Hollywood, one as a high end television mini-series and two as films.
She lives wherever she finds herself. Currently that’s between Somerset, England and Olympia, Washington.
In England, she created and sailed the Thekla, a 180 foot Baltic Trader, to the port of Bristol where it became the Old Profanity Showboat. It remains there today as a Bristol landmark. On it, she and Vivian wrote and staged a unique musical for the sheer joy of it. "Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera," garnered a host of delighted, if slightly puzzled, national reviews.
Her first book, "China Blues," was the subject of a bidding war. "China Blues," and her second novel, "Chasing Women," introduced Longfellow to Hollywood... a long hard but ultimately fascinating trip. ("China Blues" was reissued by Eio Books in 2012.)
When Vivian died in 1995, Ki stopped writing, living on Standing Room Only Farm in Vermont. Time may not heal, but it tempers. Eventually Ki began writing again, but her subject became the moment at age 19 that informed her life... a direct experience with the Divine. She chose the figure of Mary Magdalene to tell that tale in her novel "The Secret Magdalene." Nancy Savoca, a brilliant independent film maker (winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize with her first film, "True Love") traveled all the way to Vermont to option the book as her next film.
Ki's second book on the Divine Feminine is "Flow Down Like Silver," a novel about the numinous and gifted Hypatia of Alexandria, a tragically ignored historical figure of towering intellect who searched through intellect for what the Magdalene knew in her heart.
In a huge departure from her all she'd written before, Longfellow found herself weaving a tale of supernatural horror called "Houdini Heart." This book was selected by the Horror Writers of America as one of a handful of books to be considered for their 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Best Horror Novel.
In the Spring of 2013 the first three titles of her Sam Russo noir murder mystery series was published by Eio Books: "Shadow Roll," "Good Dog, Bad Dog," and "The Girl in the Next Room." There is a fourth title "Dead on the Rocks" available and there may be more. Or maybe not.
In December, 2013, she released a tale of one woman's attempt to survive lost in the Sonoran Desert: "Walks Away Woman."
She’s at work on the third and last book in her Divine Feminine series. Meant to be one thing, it's become quite another thing. Writers may think they know what they're going to write, but they can be very wrong. This book is "The White Bee".
In late January of 2018 she published the art book, biography, and memoir she'd promised Vivian Stanshall she would one day write for him: "The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall, a Fairytale of Grimm Art".
in the early months of 2018 three more of her books were optioned for Hollywood, one as a high end television mini-series and two as films.
She lives wherever she finds herself. Currently that’s between Somerset, England and Olympia, Washington.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
August 20, 2017
This is the third novel in the series of Staten Island-based P.I., Sam Russo. Sam’s backstory is a tough one of being orphaned; raised in a bizarre and dangerous home for similar kids; running away from Staten Island in the late 1930s; understanding the world through popular radio shows; coming to love horses through time spent at racetracks; being one of the last Army horse soldiers in the Philippines during World War II; and, becoming fixated on being a private eye like Humphrey Bogart. Yet Sam is down on himself when this story opens.
“For a PI, I was the bunk. I wasn’t Poirot with his little gray cells whirring around in his head, working out whodunit all by his lonesome. I wasn’t Bogie playing Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe.”
The first novel has him up at Saratoga for one of the biggest racing weeks in the year. The second novel has him investigating a murder on Broadway in Manhattan. In the process, he has acquired two friends who also appear in this story: Mrs. Joker Worthington, III and Jane, a dog of uncommon traits.
In the third novel, the mood turns much darker and Longfellow offers us a tale of moral depravity, violence and class privilege. It starts very quickly when Sam’s neighbor, Holly goes missing. Holly and Sam have bonded over their love of classic movies (which they go to watch together) and torch songs (which Holly performs). Holly wants a career in Hollywood, which is the reason she selected her name. Nothing on Holly’s surface is quite what it seems. While “she” is waiting for her big opportunity, she performs both as a singer and as a hooker to pay the bills. None of this seems to bother Sam whose focus is on the wonderful person he sees inside.
Holly’s disappearance is of little importance to the police, particularly Sam’s boyhood chum, Lino Morelli. No matter that Sam has often done Lino's legwork for him and that has been almost solely responsible for his promotions in the Staten Island police. So Sam (and Jane) begin to investigate on their own. Soon, Holly is found, broken and near to death. The why and how of this are the substance of the plot.
“The cops don’t give a fig about Holly. I expect you know why. I won’t be going to cops for anything. But I care. I care about Caitlin too. We all went to the movies together. We ate popcorn. I mean to do something about this.”
“Ye could die doing something, me lad.”
“I suppose I could. But Holly’s my friend. When a man’s friend almost gets killed, he’s suppose to do something about it.”
“Ah, I see ye know yer Bogart.”
“A hobby of mine.”
This book is an advance for Ms. Longfellow with its exploration of “hidden lives.” She deserves credit for her effort and for the writing that has us on the edge of our seat as the plot moves inexorably forward. Those who liked the first two books won’t be disappointed and this step up should make more friends for Sam, Jane and company.
“For a PI, I was the bunk. I wasn’t Poirot with his little gray cells whirring around in his head, working out whodunit all by his lonesome. I wasn’t Bogie playing Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe.”
The first novel has him up at Saratoga for one of the biggest racing weeks in the year. The second novel has him investigating a murder on Broadway in Manhattan. In the process, he has acquired two friends who also appear in this story: Mrs. Joker Worthington, III and Jane, a dog of uncommon traits.
In the third novel, the mood turns much darker and Longfellow offers us a tale of moral depravity, violence and class privilege. It starts very quickly when Sam’s neighbor, Holly goes missing. Holly and Sam have bonded over their love of classic movies (which they go to watch together) and torch songs (which Holly performs). Holly wants a career in Hollywood, which is the reason she selected her name. Nothing on Holly’s surface is quite what it seems. While “she” is waiting for her big opportunity, she performs both as a singer and as a hooker to pay the bills. None of this seems to bother Sam whose focus is on the wonderful person he sees inside.
Holly’s disappearance is of little importance to the police, particularly Sam’s boyhood chum, Lino Morelli. No matter that Sam has often done Lino's legwork for him and that has been almost solely responsible for his promotions in the Staten Island police. So Sam (and Jane) begin to investigate on their own. Soon, Holly is found, broken and near to death. The why and how of this are the substance of the plot.
“The cops don’t give a fig about Holly. I expect you know why. I won’t be going to cops for anything. But I care. I care about Caitlin too. We all went to the movies together. We ate popcorn. I mean to do something about this.”
“Ye could die doing something, me lad.”
“I suppose I could. But Holly’s my friend. When a man’s friend almost gets killed, he’s suppose to do something about it.”
“Ah, I see ye know yer Bogart.”
“A hobby of mine.”
This book is an advance for Ms. Longfellow with its exploration of “hidden lives.” She deserves credit for her effort and for the writing that has us on the edge of our seat as the plot moves inexorably forward. Those who liked the first two books won’t be disappointed and this step up should make more friends for Sam, Jane and company.
April 22, 2013
I haunt the book racks looking for new mystery series. They're coming at me from all directions. I think there's even a zombie detective, or maybe that's a vampire detective. Gag me with a stake. But here is the real deal. Real period: New York in the late 40s. Mean streets. Murder. Mayhem. And a detective to love and walk with wherever he goes. I LOVE Sam Russo. In the orphanage from hell, no one gave him a name so he named himself. His parents are the people he sees at the movies. He's in love with dead Carol Lombard. He's a horse racing nut. He loves to read exactly what I love to read - classic noir. Only for him, it's fresh off the presses. He wants to be tough. He's a softie. But he's pretty good at acting tough. He's funny. He's sad. He's picked up two sidekicks who could hold a book on their own. I now sit and jones for my next Sam Russo fix.
This is the third book. The others are Shadow Roll and Good Dog, Bad Dog.
If you're a fan of noir, mystery to baffle, and great writing, walk don't run to amazon or wherever you get your books.
This is the third book. The others are Shadow Roll and Good Dog, Bad Dog.
If you're a fan of noir, mystery to baffle, and great writing, walk don't run to amazon or wherever you get your books.
August 13, 2013
I love this writer. The Secret Magdalene and Flow Down Like Silver: Hypatia of Alexandria are two of the best books I've ever read. When Longfellow crossed over into horror/fantasy I read Houdini Heart and loved it more than I ever thought I would. So when she wrote murder mysteries I went there too. I can tell these are terrific books. They're different and funny and sad and I never saw any of the solutions coming. But mysteries aren't my thing so even though I'll bet Sam Russo is a great series and deserves to be read, I couldn't give him more than three stars which means I liked him, but I didn't love him. Although, now with this third book, the whole thing is growing on me.
I know me though, if Longfellow writes another Sam and Jane, I'll read it. As I said, I love this writer.
I know me though, if Longfellow writes another Sam and Jane, I'll read it. As I said, I love this writer.
June 14, 2013
I read the first book because I admire this writer and wanted to see what she'd do with mystery. Got through Shadow Roll (A Sam Russo Mystery, #1). in one long exciting night. So I began the next one the very next day. Good Dog, Bad Dog (A Sam Russo Mystery, #2). And then the next. The Girl in the Next Room Basically I read all three in three days. I'd be reading one now if I could. Great stuff. As for Jane, I want her!
August 30, 2013
I've now come to the last of the Sam Russos - for now. I've checked. I was promised there would be more. When? When? I'm addicted. If ever a series of mysteries NOT written in the 40s FELT like the 40s, this series does. You can see it all, feel it all. And Sam. What a great lead. Sweet and salty at the same time. Not to mention Mrs. Willingford. I could drink a warehouse of her. And then there's Jane. I want this dog. I have to have this dog. MORE SAM RUSSO!
April 11, 2013
Can't wait for the next Sam Russo. These books are right up my dark alley --- Shadow Roll Good Dog, Bad Dog.
May 2, 2013
My latest greatest fave rave detective crave. All the stuff I like in a murder mystery. Really mysterious. I never saw the solutions coming. Great lead characters. In this case, there are two besides Sam Russo himself. Both of them have the goods for their own series. Great atmosphere. Staten Island and Manhattan in the late 40s. Sharp sassy dialogue. I eat this stuff up.
September 13, 2013
It didn't take long to fall in love with Sam Russo. It took even less time to want to take Jane home. This is modern noir, dark and funny and light and sad. I hope Longfellow writes a lot of Sam Russo. They're terrific.
May 21, 2013
The third book in this new series that did it. I am now a fan of Ki Longfellow. This woman can write anything. Deeply profound spiritual fiction. Fantasy horror. Historical noir. Her Sam Russo series is a total delight. I am in love with Sam and Jane and Mrs. Willingford. Oh, and Holly.
October 10, 2013
With each book, these just keep getting better. It's not so much the mystery although there's a great mystery in each one, it's the time and the place but most of all the characters. I am in love with Sam and Mrs. Willingford. As for Sam's dog Jane, I'd take her home in a second.
May 16, 2013
I just finished all the Sam Russo's there are. Now I sit here, bereft. I need more. Like a fix. What's Jane doing? What's Mrs. Willingford up to? As Sam would say: I gotta know!
September 23, 2013
With each book I love this series more. Want more Sam & Jane & Mrs. Willingford.
July 23, 2013
I'm hooked on this series. I want that dog. Jane is something special. All three books are something special. And they're getting better.
June 1, 2013
I love my noir. This is great stuff. Don't miss this series. It really grows on you. And if you like dogs, you're in for a special treat.
May 23, 2013
4 3/4 stars.
May 27, 2013
This noir mystery series just keeps getting better and better.
August 26, 2013
I LOVE THIS SERIES. WANT MORE! AND THEY'RE GETTING EVEN BETTER.
July 14, 2018
Longfellow can really create noir. I look forward to any other Sam Russo's she writes.
January 17, 2014
This is a terrific series. Glad there were three of them so I could get thoroughly engrossed in the world of Sam Russo. In other hands, Sam's world would be seedy, a dead-end, full of creepy low lives. But through Sam's almost innocent eyes (though he thinks he's cynical), his world is alive and full of wit and color. He's one of those people who can just walk up and say what he thinks. This is good and this is, for a Private Eye, often not so good. It's the late 1940s on Staten Island where Sam was born and raised in an orphanage, one you'd find these says in "American Horror Story." And he's still stuck in a one room dump on some downtown street where he can see Manhattan but he can't afford Manhattan. Over the course of the first three books, his world has widened out into Saratoga Springs, Broadway, Park Avenue, and the hidden places on his home island. He's also acquired really great company. I won't spoil it by describing his growing friendships except to say if this keeps up, Sam Russo and company are going to go places. In my world.
June 28, 2014
I began Ki Longfellow with Houdini Heart which staggered me with its language, ideas, use of superb metafiction, and storytelling. So, of course, I wanted more of the same. I read another of her titles - Walks Away Woman. It wasn't anything like Houdini Heart. And yet I loved it. Wandering about in the Sonoran Desert with a broken down housewife who comes to life in a most wonderful way. So I went off to find another Walks Away Woman and discovered Longfellow doesn't repeat herself unless you count her charming, funny, and mysterious Sam Russo noir murder mysteries. I can't really think of another writer who reinvents her work with every book. Or one who can write so well in so many styles and genres. I honestly believe if she'd stuck with one genre (like writing something like her The Secret Magdalene over and over) as most writers do, she'd be a household name by now. But she hasn't. So someone like me didn't find her until I stumbled over her. I am thrilled I did. BIG HANDS UP.
November 1, 2013
I love books for all sorts of reasons. One of the best reasons is because I fall in love with the people in them. I don't care what they're doing, I just want to be in their world with them. I've just finished this third book in this new series and am jone-sing for the next one. I love wandering around in boring 1940s Stapleton, Staten Island with Sam Russo. I love his every movie filled thought. I love his dog. If I ever met a real dog like Jane, I'd move out of this apartment immediately to provide a good home for her. I'm not a guy but if I were a guy, I follow Mrs. Willingford wherever she went until she got a restraining order. I read a lot of murder mysteries because most us of really like murder mysteries whether we admit it or not. This series absolutely delights me.
May 12, 2013
This is the third in a new series of noir Private Eye cases centered on Sam Russo, a kid from a horror of a Staten Island orphanage right after the Second World War. The mysteries are mysterious (I didn't figure out one of them - so far), the lead is funny and whimsical and self-deprecating whose hero is Bogie up there on the Silver Screen. Over the course of his first mystery he acquires two sidekicks, both of whom could star in books of their own. A TV series of Sam ought be in the making. If nothing else, there must be more Russo and Jane and Mrs. Willingford. I'd do anything for Mrs. Willingford.
June 4, 2014
A terrific series. I just read something that got rave reviews in the major press. It had no mystery, the detective was boring, the characters colorless and the dialogue pedestrian. But here's a series where all the reverse true. Sam Russo is funny, sad, honest, real, and very colorful. His dog Jane could have a book of her own. As for Mrs. Willingford, well, all I can say, I've give a lot to have one a Mrs. Willingford in my life. There are real mysteries, not one I so far solved on my own. And great worlds to explore with Sam and his cronies.
How much does it cost, do you think, to get those big time bullshit reviews?
How much does it cost, do you think, to get those big time bullshit reviews?
January 3, 2014
Now completely hooked. How long before the next one is out? Sam Russo is a bird with one wing, but even with one wing in a one room apartment in a one-horse town, he flies. Speaking of horses, I love his horse stories, how he tells time by the winners of the Kentucky Derby, and how he'd be a jockey just like he'd be Bogie if things had turned out a little differently. This guy + dog + dame would make one hellofa TV series.
December 12, 2013
Fast, funny, poignant, tough, not-so-tough, colorful stories about a poor guy, a brilliant dog, and a rich dame getting themselves into one pickle after another in New York City (and elsewhere) in the late 1940s. Read the whole series back to back. Looking for a new habit. Look no farther. (further? farther?) Now jonesing for more.
March 16, 2014
There'd better be more of Sam. Once I got a taste, I ate the whole thing. Now I'm siting at the table, bib under my chin, knife in one hand, fork in the other, waiting for my dinner.
Knowing this would be my last meal until the next one came out, I ate it slowly. Have to say, they're getting better. Not better written or full of better characters, just a but trickier.
Knowing this would be my last meal until the next one came out, I ate it slowly. Have to say, they're getting better. Not better written or full of better characters, just a but trickier.
February 15, 2014
Another fine addition to the Sam Russo collection. Great story with a writing that keeps the reader engaged. Like the first two in the series, this one also maintains enough humor and interesting characters to make the story entertaining and worth the read.
January 26, 2015
I enjoy this series a lot - the characters are wonderful, and I'll take great characters any day. The resolution to the mystery makes no sense whatsoever. I felt like the entire mystery was just a backdrop to introduce more interesting characters.
July 21, 2014
I was almost too lazy to bother writing a review of this new series. Shame on me. When you find a treat of a detective with two sidekicks who could star in their own books, you ought to say so. So I'm saying so.
September 17, 2014
This is the third of a series I'll be following as long as they keep coming. Good solid funny mysteries and terrific characters. I open the page each time eager to fall back into their world. I'm hooked. Good thing there's a 4th on the way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews