Stone Cold Fox

Bea, the scheming narrator of screenwriter Croft’s engrossing debut, has learned from the best, a mother who groomed her from childhood how to deceive men. Now Bea, a senior business development director at a major New York City ad agency, wants it all for herself—and she wants it from über-wealthy one percenter Collin Case, an agency client. But two other women shadow Bea’s every move as she sinks her nails into Collin’s old-money family: Gale Wallace-Leicester, Collin’s longtime conniving best friend, who also has designs on the family; and Sylvia Austin, his new inquisitive assistant with nefarious plans of her own. One jaw-dropping bombshell after another emerges during luxurious family gatherings in Greenwich, Conn.; an over-the-top lobster-stuffed and liquor-drenched weekend marriage proposal party at Newport, R.I.; a French-themed bridal shower with “this little perverse sect of society”; and the extravagant Rainbow Room wedding itself, culminating in totally unexpected revelations from the past. The intricate plot, illuminating backstories, and assorted reprehensible secondary characters expose a devastatingly “pernicious interpretation of love.” This clever tale of jealousy, revenge, deception, and betrayal marks Croft as a writer to watch. Agent: Rachel Kim; 3 Arts Entertainment. (Feb.)