Mariah Fredericks's The Wharton Plot, an atmospheric murder mystery featuring the renowned author Edith Wharton as its beguiling protagonist, is set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing New York City in 1911. With cameos by Henry James and mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart, and the sudden death of a famous author as its central plot, Fredericks's sixth historical novel is a suspenseful treat with an impressive literary pedigree.
The story opens with Wharton arriving in New York for a consultation with her husband Teddy's doctor. Five years have passed since the raging success of her novel, The House of Mirth. At 50 years of age, she finds herself at a difficult crossroad in her life, with a collapsing marriage, a mentally unstable spouse, and a former lover whose discretion she can't count on. When a fellow writer she met at her hotel is fatally shot in broad daylight, Wharton can't help but throw herself into solving the crime. The investigation brings her into contact with the victim's mistress and a host of potential suspects, leading to a climactic confrontation when the actual murderer lures her to a fateful meeting in Gramercy Park.
Wharton, as bought to life by Fredericks (Death of a Showman; The Lindbergh Nanny), is her formidable self, gloriously armored in pearls, lace, and furs. The Wharton Plot expertly blends historical facts with clever fictional details to create an absorbing drama in the vein of Wharton's own splendid novels, complete with that famed author's dry wit, social observations, and stylistic flourishes. --Shahina Piyarali