cover image THE MANHATTAN ISLAND CLUBS

THE MANHATTAN ISLAND CLUBS

Brent Monahan, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-312-30413-3

Retired Georgia sheriff John Le Brun, last seen in Monahan's The Sceptered Isle Club (2002), comes to New York in 1906 to investigate the murder of Edmund Pinckney, slain at the exclusive Metropolitan Club, in this enthralling peek at mayhem among Manhattan's ruling class. How could one club member have slashed the throat of another when so many witnesses saw the accused on the other side of the city at the time? The dogged Le Brun needs all his resources to outwit and outmaneuver the diabolical schemer behind the baffling crime. Joseph Pulitzer, blind but still in control of his publishing empire, provides staff support and urges him on. A poor Pinckney relation with Southern roots, housekeeper Lordis Goode stirs more than just professional interest in the widowed Le Brun. Monahan stokes the story with authentic period detail, with many scenes set at actual clubs, such as the Manhattan opposite Madison Square Garden and the Players on Gramercy Park, haven for such illustrious theatrical figures of the day as William Gillette. Monahan pulls everything together in spectacular fashion, at the end sending Le Brun off on J.P. Morgan's yacht to ponder chess and the possibility of settling in New York. (July)