Book Review
The Girl in the Green Dress
Mariah Fredericks
Book Description:
From the author of The Lindbergh Nanny comes an
evocative mystery about the 1920 murder of the gambler Joseph Elwell,
featuring New Yorker writer Morris Markey and Zelda Fitzgerald.
New York, 1920.
Zelda Fitzgerald is bored, bored, bored. Although she’s newly married to the
hottest writer in America, and one half of the literary scene’s "it"
couple, Zelda is at loose ends while Scott works on his next novel, The
Beautiful and the Damned.
Meanwhile, Atlanta journalist Morris Markey has arrived in New York and is lost
in every way possible. Recently returned from the war and without connections,
he hovers at the edge of the city’s revels, unable to hear the secrets that
might give him his first big story.
When notorious man-about-town Joseph Elwell is found shot through the head in
his swanky townhouse, the fortunes the two southerners collide when they
realize they were both among the last to see him alive. Zelda encountered
Elwell at the scandalous Midnight Frolic revue on the night of his death, and
Markey saw him just hours before with a ravishing mystery woman dressed in
green. Markey has his story. Zelda has her next adventure.
As they investigate which of Elwell’s many lovers—or possibly an enraged
husband—would have wanted the dapper society man dead, Zelda sweeps Markey into
her New York, the heady, gaudy Jazz Age of excess and abandon, as the lost
generation takes its first giddy steps into a decade-long spree. Everyone has
come to do something, the more scandalous the better; Zelda is
hungry for love and sensation, Markey desperate for success and recognition. As
they each follow these ultimately dangerous desires, the pair close in on what
really happened that night—and hunt for the elusive girl in the green dress who
may hold the truth.
Based on the real story of the unsolved deaths of Joseph Elwell and New Yorker
writer Morris Markey, Mariah Fredericks’s new novel is a glittering homage to
the dawn of the Jazz Age, as well as a deft and searing portrait of the dark
side of fame.
My 5-Star Review:
The first book I read of Mariah Fredericks was The
Lindbergh Nanny, which I highly enjoyed so I was excited to read The
Girl in the Green Dress. I must admit, it was the fact that Zelda Fitzgerald
was in the book that hooked me. But the book ended up being very different than
I anticipated.
In the story, journalist and WWI veteran Morris Markey is on
the case when his neighbor is murdered. Knowing a detail no other journalists
knows, he quickly begins trying to solve the case while writing articles for
his newspaper. He enlists the help of famed author, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife,
Zelda, who is more than happy to help him solve the murder. Together, they
squeeze their way into the homes and entertainment places of the rich to figure
out who the woman was who left the murder scene – the woman in the green dress.
This was a fun and interesting tale of a real-life cold case
taking quite a lot of literary license placing Zelda and Scott into this story.
I had hoped the story would be more true-to-life about the Fitzgerald’s, but it
was instead more of a fantasy than reality. However, the story was entertaining
and fun to read and I enjoyed it.
About the Author:
Mariah Fredericks was born and raised in New York City. She
graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She enjoys reading and
writing about dead people and how they got that way. She is the author of the
Jane Prescott mystery series.
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