Books Set in North America, United States, New York, New York

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

 

In August 1930, Judge Joseph Crater disappeared off the streets of New York City.  His disappearance remains an unsolved mystery to this day.

 

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress is a fictionalized retelling of his disappearance and offers a possible explanation to account for what happened to him.  While the Carters were vacationing in their Maine summer cottage, the Judge received a phone call and told his wife that he must return to the City immediately.  She never saw him again.

 

New York in the 1920s and 30s, was during the time of the Tammany Hall political scandal.  Political positions were procured through bribes and corruption.  Carter had recently gotten a position on the State Supreme Court through these channels.  He frequented a speak-easy owned by a known gangster and was fond of Broadway theater and showgirls.  As depicted in this novel, the showgirls got their jobs through giving themselves to the men operating the theaters, often gangsters.  (Not unlike the pressure used by some film producers in Hollywood).

 

Sally Lou Ritz, known as Ritzi, was one such showgirl, and was the mistress of Carter.  She was one of the last individuals to have seen Judge Carter.  She testified that she had dinner with him at a fancy restaurant in the theater district on the night he disappeared, but claimed she was dating another associate of Carter.

 

Once the maid, Maria, entered the Carter’s Manhattan apartment to clean, thinking that the Carters were in Maine, and walked in on the Judge and Ritzi.  Thus, further complicating her with the Judge’s disappearance and Stella, his wife.  The author suggests that the three women conspired to have Carter killed.

 

There are many twists and turns in this riveting tale.  At the time, it was quite a sensational story and was in all the newspapers.  At the end of this novel, the author provides a brief summary of the characters, most of whom were real people and many of the events in the book actually happened.  The author does indicate where she used poetic license.

 

This was a fast read and very entertaining.

 

Read:  June 30, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: New England

True Crime Addict, by James Renner (2016)

In the evening of February 9, 2004, U Mass student Maura Murray simply disappeared after a minor car crash on Route 112 in Woodsville, New Hampshire.  A passing motorist (who lived within sight of the accident) stopped to offer assistance.  Maura declined his help.  The motorist then went home and called the police to report the accident. By the time police arrived, the car was still at the scene, but Maura was gone.

Enter the author, James Renner.  Renner is an investigative journalist, with a special interest in crime.  After having been fired from his job at a newspaper (for unspecified reasons), he became obsessed with Maura Murray’s disappearance. He decided to investigate the disappearance.

On the surface, Maura seemed to live a charmed life.  She had been a Cadet at West Point, until she decided to change universities and enroll as a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts. She was engaged to be married to Billy, who was the All-American boy.  Sadly, behind the façade, thing couldn’t be more different.

Shortly before Maura left the University on February 9, she told her colleagues that she needed to attend a family emergency.  This proved to be false.  There was no family emergency, nor was there any perceivable reason for her to be in New Hampshire on that evening.

Renner follows the threads of Maura’s life.  Because this is still an “open investigation”, law enforcement officials could give Renner very little information.  Still, Renner dogged Maura’s friends and family in hopes of uncovering the truth of her disappearance.  Interestingly, Maura’s family virtually shut down all communication channels and her closest friends were also unwilling to open up to the author.

In the process, Renner describes his own life in a remarkable candid fashion to explain his obsession with crime and criminal investigations.  He also is very candid about his own use of drugs, some prescribed and other not, his history with his family’s skeletons, and his trouble child, and his self-destructive behavior.

Renner pursued this case for years, even setting up a blog inviting others to provide him with clues as to Maura’s whereabouts.  This book, part crime story, part memoir, recounts Renners research efforts and he offers a possible solution to the disappearance of Maura Murray.

The author has a skill with words.  This book was very readable and enjoyable despite the sad subject of a possible abduction of a young woman with a full life ahead of her.

Read: December 2, 2018

4.5 Stars