Just Jennifer

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon (Doubleday, January 28, 2014)

A fictionalized retelling of the true and still unsolved disappearance of New York City Justice Joseph Crater in 1930, Lawhon’s novel re-imagines the events that led up to the judge’s last moments, what might have happened and the three women most involved in Crater’s life were affected by the disappearance and what they each might have known.  Set amid the glamour and corruption of prohibition and Tammany Hall, Lawhon recreates the world of Broadway chorus girls, mobsters and underground speakeasies with authenticity.  Each woman is introduced and then slowly woven into the story that becomes Crater’s disappearance and presumed death, each with her own secret that will fiercely be protected as they each finding themselves doing things they could never imagine.  A true-life murder mystery with bigger than life, real or based on real characters, The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress convincingly explores what might have happened with surprises up until the very end.