The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon (English) Paperback Book

Description: The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon From the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia and The Frozen River comes a "genuinely surprising whodunit" (USA Today) that tantalizingly reimagines a scandalous murder mystery that rocked the nation.One summer night in 1930, Judge Joseph Crater steps into a New York City cab and is never heard from again. Behind this great man are three women, each with her own tale to tell: Stella, his fashionable wife, the picture of propriety; Maria, their steadfast maid, indebted to the judge; and Ritzi, his showgirl mistress, willing to seize any chance to break out of the chorus line.As the twisted truth emerges, Ariel Lawhons wickedly entertaining debut mystery transports us into the smoky jazz clubs, the seedy backstage dressing rooms, and the shadowy streets beneath the Art Deco skyline.Dont miss Ariel Lawhons new book, The Frozen River! FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography ARIEL LAWHON is a critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into numerous languages and have been Library Reads, One Book One County, Indie Next, Costco, Amazon Spotlight, and Book of the Month Club selections. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four sons. Ariel splits her time between the grocery store and the baseball field. Review "A genuinely surprising whodunit." —USA Today"Inspired by a real-life unsolved mystery, this mesmerizing novel features characters that make a lasting impression." —People "Fresh and imaginative. . . . A sordid portrait of mobsters and mayhem, corruption and carnage, greed and graft . . . [Lawhon] slyly builds the suspense to a stunning revelation." —Richmond Times-Dispatch "Ariel Lawhon has concocted a stylish homage to noir in The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress. This fun, fast-paced novel has it all: speakeasies, gangsters, show girls, and not one, not two, but three women scorned. A real page-turner." —Melanie Benjamin, bestselling author of The Aviators Wife"This book is more meticulously choreographed than a chorus line. It all pays off. Clues accumulate. Each scene proves important. Everyone lies. Once the rabbit is out of the hat, everything takes on a different texture, reorganizes and makes sense. A second reading, like a second cocktail, is almost better than the first." —Chelsea Cain, The New York Times Book Review"A gripping, fast-paced noir novel. . . . Lawhon brings fresh intrigue to this tale. . . . [and] captures a New York City period full of high-kicking showgirls, mob-linked speakeasies and Tammany Hall political scandal." —Associated Press "A romp through New York in the late 20s. . . . Populated by gangsters and crooked politicians, society ladies and dancers, this story is nothing like your day-to-day life and yet . . . you will find the three women mentioned in the title strangely recognizable." —Charlotte Observer"A page-turner filled with glitz and glamour as well as murder, greed, and deceit." —Romantic Times "The twists and turns in the tale of lust, greed, and deceit keep you guessing until the final pages. . . .The Nancy Drew in you cant wait to solve the artfully hidden clues in this historical mystery." —Daily Candy "Juicy. . . . A plummy, pernicious mystery. . . . Reads like a cross between Sue Monk Kidd and Beth Hoffman."—Chapter16.org"A great story, told with verve and feeling. . . . Lawhon walks one of fictions trickiest tightropes, creating a novel that is both genuinely moving and full of pulpy fun." —Booklist "Vivid and unsettling, with a finale as startling as the pop of a gun." —Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow Review Quote "Inspired by a real-life unsolved mystery, this mesmerizing novel features characters that make a lasting impression." -- People magazine "Fresh and imaginative. . . . A sordid portrait of mobsters and mayhem, corruption and carnage, greed and graft . . . [Lawhon] slyly builds the suspense to a stunning revelation." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch Description for Reading Group Guide The questions and information in this guide are intended to enhance your discussion of Ariel Lawhons The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress. Discussion Question for Reading Group Guide 1. Many of the scandals depicted in The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress could easily be on the cover of People magazine today. We often tend to romanticize bygone eras like the 1930s. Did this novel open your eyes to the fact that the more things change the more they stay the same? 2. What did you think when Maria returned to Judge Craters room and took the envelope her husband had planted there? Was it a gutsy move or foolish? 3. There is a very unusual bond that develops between Maria, Ritzi and Stella. How is their connection different from female friendships today? Are there similarities? 4. The three women actually exert a tremendous amount of influence over the men in their lives, but its all done in a very surreptitious way. What does this say about the dynamic between men and women in the 1930s? 5. "Only fools underestimate the strength of Stella Crater." Were you surprised at Stellas evolution from seemingly "good wife" to ultimate power player? 6. There are some interesting counterpoints going on in the novel: Jude and Marias happy marriage compared with Judge Crater and Stellas marriage of convenience; Marias inability to have a child and Ritzis unwanted child. How did these juxtapositions enhance your enjoyment of the novel? 7. Did you find the contents of Ritzis letter to Stella surprising? What about Marias role? 8. There are many real people and events woven into the storyline. Were you inspired to find out more about people like Judge Crater, Owney Madden, William Klein, and Ritzi? Who was the person who intrigued you the most? 9. Who would you cast as Stella, Maria, and Ritzi if the book were to be made into a movie? 10. Judge Craters disappearance remains a mystery to this day. What do you think happened to him? Excerpt from Book 9780385537629 excerpt Lawhon / THE WIFE, THE MAID, AND THE MISTRESS Club Abbey, Greenwich Village, August 6, 1969 WE BEGIN IN A BAR. We will end here as well but that is more than you need to know at the moment. For now, a woman sits in a corner booth waiting to give her confession. But her party is late, and without an audience she looks small and alone, like an invalid in an over-sized church pew. Its not so easy for her, this truth telling, and she strains against it. A single strand of pearls--brittle and yellowed with age--rests against the flat plane of her chest. She rolls them between her fingers as though counting the beads on a rosary. Stella Crater has avoided this confession for thirty-nine years. The same number of years she has been coming to this bar. Not long ago this meeting would have been a spectacle, splashed across the headlines of every paper in New York: Wife of Missing Judge Meets with Lead Investigator, Tells All! But the days of front-page spreads, interviews, and accusations are over, filed away in some distant archive. Tonight her stage is empty. Stella looks at her watch. Nine-fifteen. Club Abbey was once a speakeasy during the Jazz age, and is now another relic in Greenwich Village, peddling its former glory through the tourist guides. It sits one floor below street level, dark and subdued. Scuffed pine floors. Black and white photos line the walls. An aging jukebox has long since replaced the jazz quartet. The only remnant is Stan, the bartender. He was fifteen when hired by notorious gangster Owney Madden to sweep the floors at closing. Owney took a liking to the kid, as did the showgirls, and Stans been behind the bar ever since. Hes never missed Stellas ritual. His part is small, but he plays it well. Two lowball glasses. Twelve cubes of ice split between them. Crown Royal on the rocks. Stan arranges napkins on her table and sets the glasses down. Her eyes are slick with a watery film--the harbinger of age and death. "Good to see you again, Mrs. Crater." Stella swats him away with an emaciated hand and he hangs back to watch, drying glasses with a dishtowel. Its the same thing every year: she sits alone in her booth for a few minutes and then he brings the drinks. Straight whiskey, the way her husband liked it. Shell raise one glass, saluting the empty place across from her, and say, "Good luck, Joe, wherever you are." Stella will take her time with the drink, letting it burn, drawing out the moment until theres nothing left in her glass. That is when shell rise and walk out, leaving the other drink untouched. Except tonight she does none of these things. Fifteen minutes she sits there, rubbing the rim of her glass. Stan has no script for what to do next and he stares at her, confused. He doesnt see the door swing open or the older gentleman enter. Doesnt see the trench coat or the faded gray fedora. Sees none of it until Detective Jude Simon slides into the booth across from Stella. She lays her palm on the table, inches from a pack of cigarettes, and sits up straighter. The booth is hard against her back, walnut planks pressing against the knobs of her spine. "Youre late." "Stella." Jude touches the brim of his hat in greeting. He takes stock of her shriveled body. Tips his head to the side. "Its been years." "You were here the first time, makes sense that youd be here the last." Stella lifts her glass and takes a sip of whiskey. Shudders. "Call it a deathbed confession." Jude surveys the room through the weary smoke. The regular Thursday night crowd, a few women, mostly men are scattered around in groups of twos and threes drinking longnecks and griping about the stock market. "This isnt exactly a church and Im not much of a priest," he says. "Priest. Detective. Whats the difference? You both love a good confession." His shoulders twitch--a doubters shrug. "Im retired." Stella pulls a cigarette from the pack and props it between her lips. She looks at him, expectant. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tarnished silver lighter. Something like a smile crosses his face and then melts away. He stares at it for a moment, cupped there in his palm before striking it with his thumb. Jude used to be handsome, decades ago when Stella first met him, and the traces are still there in the square line of his jaw and the steel-blue eyes. But now he looks tired and sad. A bit wilted. It takes three tries before a weak flame erupts from the lighter. Perhaps his hand trembles as he holds it toward her or it could be a trick of the light. Stella tips her cigarette into the flame and the end glows orange. "You would be here tonight even if I hadnt asked you to come." Her eyes shift toward the bar where Stan pretends not to eavesdrop. "You have your sources." "Maybe." Jude hangs his fedora on a peg beside the booth and pulls a pad and pen from inside his coat pocket. He waits for her to speak. Stella lured him here with the promise of a story--the real version this time. He has been like a duck after breadcrumbs for thirty-nine years. Pecking. Relentless. Gobbling up every scrap she leaves for him. Yet the truth is not something she will rush tonight. He will get it one morsel at a time. Stella Crater picked her poison a long time ago--unfiltered Camels--and she takes a long drag now, sizing up her pet duck. Her cheeks collapse into the sharp angles of her face and she holds the smoke in her lungs for a long moment before blowing it from between her teeth. Oh, shell tell Detective Simon a story all right. Chapter One Belgrade Lakes, Maine, Saturday, August 2, 1930 Stella slept with the windows thrown open that summer, a breeze blowing back the curtains. The sounds of nature lulled her to sleep: frogs croaking in the shallow water beneath her window, the hum of a dragonfly outside the rusted screen, the call of a loon across the lake. She lay there, with one arm thrown across her face in resistance to the burgeoning sunlight, when she heard the Cadillac crunch up the long gravel driveway. Joe. Stella sat up and threw her legs over the edge of the bed, toes resting against the cool floorboards. She pushed a tangle of pale curls away from her eyes with a fine-boned hand. Yawned. Then grabbed a blue cotton shift from the floor and pulled it over her tan shoulders. She hadnt expected her husband to come--hadnt wanted him to--but there was no mistaking the familiar rumble of that engine. She went out to meet him wearing yesterdays dress and a contrived grin. "Youre back." Joseph Crater leaned out the open window and drew her in for a kiss. "Drove all night. We beat the Bar Harbor Express by an hour!" He clapped their chauffeur on the back. "Well have to paint a racing stripe down the side of this old thing." Stella pulled the car door open and saw two things at once: hed brought her flowers--white peonies, her favorite--and he wasnt wearing his wedding band. Again. The sight of that naked finger stripped the grin from her face. Joe climbed out and reached for her with one arm, but she took a small step backward and looked at his pants pocket. The imprint of his ring pressed round against his cotton trousers. The question that surfaced was not the one she really wanted to ask. "Did you have a pleasant trip?" He nodded. "Where did you go?" Joes answer was cautious. "Atlantic City. With William Klein." Her voice was even, almost carefree. "Just the two of you?" Joe hesitated long enough for her to rephrase the question. "Were you and William alone?" He glanced at Fred Kahler, stiff behind the wheel, eyes downcast, and responded with a single sharp word. "Stell." It took a moment to find her breath. All that fresh air and she couldnt pull a stitch of it into her lungs. "Must you be so flagrant about it?" "Well talk about this later." Stella heard the warning in his voice, but didnt care. She rose up onto the balls of her feet, the gravel digging into her bare skin, as anger ripped through her voice. "We have nothing to talk about!" His eyes went small and dark. Stella grabbed the car door and, with a rage that startled them both, slammed it shut, crushing Joes hand in the frame. She heard the crunch before he screamed, and when he yanked his hand away, two fingers were bloody and mangled. Stella waited for Joe on the deck of the Salt House. It was Belgrade Lakes only fine-dining establishment, and theyd been late, thanks to his difficulty dressing with one hand. She had refused to help him. Joe hadnt yelled at her after the incident. Hadnt called her names or lifted a hand to strike her. All he said was, "Ill need your help with this mess." Almost polite. Then he soaked his hand in the kitchen sink and waited for her to gather ointment and gauze. She had wrapped the bandage tighter than necessary, angered anew by his cavalier attitude and the way he expected her to accept that a man of his position would have a mistress. As thoug Details ISBN0345805968 Author Ariel Lawhon Short Title WIFE THE MAID & THE MISTRESS Language English ISBN-10 0345805968 ISBN-13 9780345805966 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 2014 Publication Date 2014-10-07 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2014-10-07 NZ Release Date 2014-10-07 US Release Date 2014-10-07 UK Release Date 2014-10-07 Pages 336 Publisher Random House USA Inc Audience General Imprint Vintage Books We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:86711269;

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