The Girl in the Green Dress

Fredericks (The Wharton Plot) brilliantly evokes 1920s New York City in this riveting standalone inspired by the unsolved murder of gambler and womanizer Joseph Elwell. Morris Markey is a budding young journalist striving for professional glory. A story falls into his lap one night when he hears a woman screaming at an apartment across the street and hastens over to find Elwell with a bullet in his head. Before police arrive, Markey quizzes Elwell’s distraught housekeeper and pokes around the residence. He recognizes Elwell from seeing him out the night before, accompanied by a beautiful young woman in a dress the color of dollar bills. Determined to find that woman, Markey winds up getting help from Zelda Fitzgerald, who was among the last people who saw Elwell alive—and whose social connections open doors to some of Manhattan’s wealthiest power brokers. When a second man is killed in a similar fashion to Elwell, the tension mounts, and Markey’s pool of suspects widens. Fredericks brings the period to life beautifully, and the often-caricatured Zelda never feels less than three-dimensional. Add in an enthralling investigation and a complex, fame-hungry lead, and it’s undeniable: Fredericks has struck gold. (Sept.)