The Improvisers
Murder and Magic • Book 3
by Nicole Glover
Why You'll Love This
A Black barnstorming pilot who runs magical contraband during Prohibition starts pulling on one thread — and unravels her entire family's history.
- Great if you want: historical fantasy rooted in Black American culture and celestial magic
- The experience: atmospheric and layered — mystery builds steadily across decades and borders
- The writing: Glover weaves jazz-age texture into plot mechanics with confident, unhurried precision
- Skip if: you haven't read the series and prefer a clean entry point
About This Book
In an America where Prohibition extends to magic as much as bootleg whiskey, Velma Frye moves through the world on her own terms — barnstorming pilot, jazz pianist, celestial magic wielder, and now reluctant investigator after a single pocket watch ignites chaos she can't ignore. What begins as a routine case spirals into something far more personal, pulling Velma across the country and through time toward secrets buried in her own family's history. The stakes are never abstract here; they're intimate, rooted in legacy and love and the cost of power held by the wrong hands.
Nicole Glover writes with a propulsive confidence that suits her protagonist perfectly — the prose moves the way Velma does, quick and purposeful with unexpected grace. Set in the richly textured world of the Murder and Magic series but fully accessible as a standalone, The Improvisers rewards readers who want their historical fantasy to feel alive rather than decorative. Glover layers the jazz-age atmosphere into the story's bones, not just its backdrop, and the result is a mystery that breathes with the rhythms of its era.
