Florida Girls

About the Book

Thelma Miles joined a war bond tour to escape her past. Instead, she walked straight into a trap—and the only way out is through the mob.

St. Petersburg, Florida. 1944. While the war rages overseas, eighteen-year-old Thelma discovers the real battleground is here—in hotel lounges, backstage deals, and the quiet violence of men who control everything.

Her new boss, Kathleen Young, runs the tour with the polish of old money and the cunning of someone who’s learned survival isn’t pretty. When Kathleen’s ambition pulls them both into debt with Tampa’s underworld, the women form an uneasy alliance. Not friendship. Not loyalty. Just two people who understand the same brutal truth: in a man’s world, you either play the game or get played.

As the tour cuts through wartime America’s glittering surface, Thelma must decide how far she’ll go to secure her own future. Between Kathleen’s ruthless pragmatism and Thelma’s instinct for sensing danger before it lands, escape means mastering the psychology of power—before someone else masters them.

Florida Girls is the first novel in The Queenpin Chronicles, a historical noir trilogy about women who refuse to wait for the men to come home and decide their fates.

Perfect for fans of Kate Quinn’s morally gray heroines and atmospheric danger.