Yesterday, the February selection was announced for the She Reads book club and it is The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress by our own Ariel Lawhon, one of the co-founders of She Reads. I just started reading this book and am already hooked – look for my review of this book early next week. In the meantime, enjoy this book spotlight and be sure to read all the way to the bottom where you can find out where you can go to win copies of this book for yourself!!!
Title: The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress
Author: Ariel Lawhon
Published: January 2014, Doubleday
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Source: Publisher/She Reads
A tantalizing
reimagining of a scandalous mystery that rocked the nation in
1930-Justice Joseph Crater’s infamous disappearance-as seen through the
eyes of the three women who knew him best.They say behind every
great man, there’s a woman. In this case, there are three. Stella
Crater, the judge’s wife, is the picture of propriety draped in long
pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi, a leggy showgirl with Broadway
aspirations, thinks moonlighting in the judge’s bed is the quickest way
off the chorus line. Maria Simon, the dutiful maid, has the judge to
thank for her husband’s recent promotion to detective in the NYPD.
Meanwhile, Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the
city’s most notorious gangster, Owney “The Killer” Madden.On a
sultry summer night, as rumors circulate about the judge’s involvement
in wide-scale political corruption, the Honorable Joseph Crater steps
into a cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he?After 39
years of necessary duplicity, Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal
what she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey,
the site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judge’s favorite
watering hole back in the day, Stella orders two whiskeys on the
rocks-one for her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the
ice cubes in the lowball glass, Stella begins to tell a tale-of greed,
lust, and deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of
their prescribed roles, it becomes clear that each knows more than she
has initially let on.With a layered intensity and prose as
effervescent as the bubbly that flows every night, The Wife, the Maid,
and the Mistress is a wickedly entertaining historical mystery that will
transport readers to a bygone era with tipsy spins through subterranean
jazz clubs and backstage dressing rooms. But beneath the Art Deco
skyline and amid the intoxicating smell of smoke and whiskey, the
question of why Judge Crater disappeared lingers seductively until a
twist in the very last pages.
So, are you interested in reading this book yourself? Well, here are some ways you can get your hands on a copy:
- Head over to the She Reads site – they are giving away 5 copies to a book club plus a set of really cute shot glasses. Giveaway is open until the end of the month.
- Join our She Reads twitter chat on February 27 @ 8pm EST with Ariel Lawhon – I hear quite a few books will be up for grabs. The hashtag to join in is #srbkchat.
