The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress

September 9, 2013
Lawhon’s disappointing debut novel reimagines the 1930 disappearance of justice Joseph Crater, an unsolved crime that fixates armchair detectives to this day. Set among the speakeasies and society soirees of Jazz Age Manhattan, the story also winds its way through the cramped tenements of the Lower East Side and goes behind the scenes of Broadway spectaculars. One August night, Joseph Crater leaves Club Abbey, a speakeasy owned by notorious gangster Owney Madden, and is never seen again. There are rumors of political corruption and shady connections with the criminal underworld, but the story centers on three women in his life—his wife, Stella; his mistress, showgirl Ritzi; and his maid, Maria. The three of them, all severely affected by his disappearance, must deal with the unexpected consequences, while trying to decide if there is a chance that he might still be alive. Stella hides in her Maine vacation home to avoid being harassed by police detectives and journalists. Ritzi shoulders a grueling life that is nothing like the glamorous starlet’s existence that she dreamed of. Maria, whose husband is a detective assigned to the Crater case, works on starting a family while managing two jobs. These women do everything they can to protect themselves and their families from the malevolent men who let nothing stand in the way of them and their money. A fascinating story, but rendered colorless by its lack of momentum and stock characters.

November 1, 2013
Lawhon (Eye of the God, 2009) offers a fictional solution to the never-solved disappearance of New York Supreme Court Judge Joseph Crater in 1930, a headline story in its day. For 38 years, the judge's widow, Stella, makes annual visits to toast him at Greenwich Village's Club Abbey, the mobster-owned speak-easy frequented by Joe Crater in 1930. Dying of cancer in 1969, she invites Jude Simon, the detective assigned the Crater case, to join her and tells him what really happened. Cut to 1930: Joe cuts short his visit to Stella at the couple's Maine cottage to return to NYC alone after receiving a mysterious phone call. The Craters' maid, Maria, coincidently married to Jude, is cleaning their Fifth Avenue apartment when she walks in on Joe's mistress, a showgirl everyone calls Ritzi, naked in the conjugal bed. Joe warns Maria to keep her mouth shut before he and Ritzi head out. After having dinner with pal William Klein, Joe and Ritzi end up in a Coney Island hotel. When there's a knock on the door, Ritzi hides in a cabinet under the bathroom sink while two men savagely beat Joe before taking him away. She and Klein claim they spent the night together to give each other alibis when questioned. Stella returns to NYC briefly and finds a stash of money and documents that Maria knows Jude, of all people, placed in the Craters' bureau (but he doesn't know she knows). Stella hides from the grand jury when it convenes. Ritzi, newly pregnant, tries to hide from the mobster who controls her. Maria and Jude hide their secrets from each other. An author's note at the end explains who was real and who is fictional in the labyrinth of what ifs, but only Ritzi's story (she was real, but her storyline is imagined) carries any dramatic weight. There is some cheesy fun to be had here with Prohibition mobsters and politicians, but the plot and prose are pedestrian.

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December 1, 2013

In this fictional reimagining of the infamous disappearance of Justice Joseph Crater from a street in New York City on August 6, 1930, events are perceived through the perspectives of the three title characters, the women who knew him best. At the time of his disappearance, there was much speculation that Justice Crater had become involved with organized crime, which may have led him to become the "missingest man in New York," as one newspaper dubbed him at the time. The novel begins years after Crater's disappearance, with his widow sitting in a bar. She has called a meeting with the investigating officer of the case, and when he arrives, she has ordered two drinks, one for herself and one for her late husband. Crater's widow is finally ready to tell the truth about what happened that August day, but readers will be happy that the facts are not revealed until the final pages. VERDICT This story is at once an intricate tale of disparate but coexisting definitions of love and loyalty as well as a tale of what it meant to be a person of power in New York City in the early 20th century. Historical fiction and true crime readers will thoroughly enjoy this book. Although this novel is dubbed a debut, Lawhon has published previous fiction, including Eye of the God, under the pen name Ariel Allison. [See Prepub Alert, 7/29/13.]--Caitlin Bronner, MLIS, New York

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
In this tale of Jazz Age New York, Lawhon walks one of fiction's trickiest tightropes, creating a novel that is both genuinely moving and full of pulpy fun. It's 1930, and a corrupt judge has gone missing. Newly promoted police officer Jude Simon is assigned the case and hunts among the speakeasies, Broadway theaters, and wealthy apartments of New York, only to be blocked at every turn. He's stymied in particular by the three women in the judge's life: his jaded wife; his sly mistress; and worst of all, his frightened maid, who happens to be Simon's wife. The women's stories throw a harsh light on New York in the 1930s, when gangsters ruled the city and women were pawns in their games. The imagined events of the novel become even more poignant when the reader discovers that the story is based on the real-life disappearance of Joseph Crater and that most of the characters were real people, like the notorious madam Vivian Gordon and the vile gangster Owney Madden. It's a great story, told with verve and feeling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)