The Wharton Plot: A Novel by Mariah Fredericks #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Mariah Fredericks’ mesmerizing novel, The Wharton Plot, follows renowned novelist Edith Wharton in the twilight years of the Gilded Age in New York as she tracks a killer.

New York City, 1911. Edith Wharton, almost equally famed for her novels and her sharp tongue, is bone-tired of Manhattan. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, she makes the decision to leave America, her publisher, and her loveless marriage.

And then, dashing novelist David Graham Phillips—a writer with often notorious ideas about society and women’s place in it—is shot to death outside the Princeton Club. Edith herself met the man only once, when the two formed a mutual distaste over tea in the Palm Court of the Belmont hotel. When Phillips is killed, Edith’s life takes another turn. His sister is convinced Graham was killed by someone determined to stop the publication of his next book, which promised to uncover secrets that powerful people would rather stayed hidden. Though unconvinced, Edith is curious. What kind of book could push someone to kill?

Inspired by a true story, The Wharton Plot follows Edith Wharton through the fading years of the Gilded Age in a city she once loved so well, telling a taut tale of fame, love, and murder, as she becomes obsessed with solving a crime.

My Review:

You can’t fault the author for shorting the development of her protagonist, Edith Wharton. Based on a true story and character, Edith becomes blood and bone in conflict with aging when fifty in the Gilded Age was definitely over the hill. Looking at herself and not liking what she sees, in or out, she is conflicted, which is carried like a vulture on her shoulder throughout the novel.

An author, struggling to retain her status, she meets David Graham Phillips, also an author who is narcissistic, arrogant, and abrasive. She finds him most disagreeable but following his murder the following day becomes immersed in the mystery of helping to discover his killer.

While you might expect the activity to provide a distraction from her own problems—that of her marriage, her husband’s illness, and the writer’s block that began her serious introspection, she continues to wrestle with those same issues throughout the narrative. She was asked by several to read his last manuscript, which apparently included accounts best felt left unpublished by whoever took umbrage. The investigative attempts tend to be overshadowed by her personal concerns.

Okay—back in the day—she would stand out. Well-educated, attractive, successful, intelligent, and embroiled in her decaying career, she is a force to be reckoned with while striving to maintain the decorum of the day which limited the ability of a woman to exert many of her strengths. The frustration leaks from the pores of the pages.

The location and everyday life are vividly described; manners still strongly Victorian. Strong characters are well developed but I must confess to going cross-eyed at times when the pages blurred into boredom for me. I couldn’t make the plot get into second gear. It wouldn’t go faster for me. Rich in atmospherics, authentic characters and dialogue. Just moved at too slow a pace for me.

The CE read The Lindbergh Nanny back in 2022 and really enjoyed it. I received a copy of this book from our local library which in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: 20^th Century Historical Fiction, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ASIN: B0C1X7W5QQ
Print Length: 285 pages
Publication Date: January 23, 2024
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She enjoys reading and writing about dead people and how they got that way. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series.

#TuesdayBookBlog

The Lindbergh Nanny: A Novel by Mariah Fredericks- #BookReview – #historicalbiographicalfiction, #MinotaurBooks

The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in New Jersey in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny.

A Scottish immigrant deciphering the rules of her new homeland and its East Coast elite, Betty finds Colonel Lindbergh eccentric and often odd, Mrs. Lindbergh kind yet nervous, and Charlie simply a darling. Far from home and bruised from a love affair gone horribly wrong, Betty finds comfort in caring for the child, and warms to the attentions of handsome sailor Henrik, sometimes known as Red. Then, Charlie disappears.

Suddenly a suspect in the eyes of both the media and the public, Betty must find the truth about what really happened that night, in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.

His Review:

The kidnapping of the century happened in 1932. Charles Lindbergh’s son is missing and one of the primary suspects is his nanny, Betty Gow. She is an attractive young lady from Scotland who has come to the United States to make her fame and fortune. She is very well vetted by the Lindberghs prior to being hired to take care of their young son Charlie.

Charlie is very taken with his new nursemaid and sees her as his mother figure. His mother, Anne Morrow Lindberg, is busy making trips all over the globe with the first man to cross the Atlantic on a solo flight. Anne is a very attractive woman and achieves her pilot’s license during the time Betty was the nanny. Colonel Lindberg has set strict rules that the baby is to be put in his room from 8 until 10 at night and is not to be coddled! The baby is spirited from his room during those hours by a ladder set on the second floor of the family home.

During the deepest hours of the Great Depression many people are out of work. The ransom set at $70,000 is a very large amount during the time. The U.S. has just been taken off of the gold standard and the bills are all U.S. gold certificates with the serial numbers carefully recorded and the banks in the area alerted to anyone who uses the bills.

Betty is suspected of the crime and under continual suspicion. She has to return to Scotland because of the notoriety in the case but later returns. Some of his nightwear is found in the woods near the home and days later the body of baby Charles Lindbergh is also found fairly close to the home. Betty is totally devastated by the boy’s death and stays on through the investigation and trial.

This book is very well written and has some literary license taken to help support the final court decision in the case and the end story. The characters are very well developed and the narrative heartbreaking in its exposé. I found myself very sympathetic with Ms. Gow and the Lindbergh family. 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction, Biographical Fiction, Historical Scottish Fiction
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ASIN: B09NTKJMWX
Print Length:
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Lindbergh Nanny [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She enjoys reading and writing about dead people and how they got that way. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series.