The Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagetti

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Author

Read: January 14, 2013

"Wicked Wives" is based on the true story of the 1938 Philadelphia murder scandals in which seventeen wives were arrested for murdering their husbands. Mastermind conspirator Giorgio DiSipio, a stunning lothario and local tailor who preys upon disenchanted and unfaithful wives, convinces twelve of them to kill their spouses for insurance money. The murder conspiracy is very successful until one lone assistant D.A., Tom Rossi, uncovers the plot and brings the perpetrators to justice. "Wicked Wives" is a story made for Hollywood, combining murder, corruption, treachery, love, lust and phenomenal detail as it vividly captures Depression-era Philadelphia.

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I couldn't have been more excited when author Gus Pelagetti asked me to review his book The Wicked Wives. I love true crime novels and the very idea of a bunch of women poisoning their husbands was more than a little provocative. I eagerly agreed to take on the book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I liked the book but I particularly enjoyed the obvious effort Pelagetti put into making sure the complex web of intrigue didn't overwhelm his readers. Each part of the conspiracy evolves naturally, moving from one event to the next with fluidity I am unused to seeing in the work of first time authors.

Still, for all that I applaud this effort; I also feel the cast is rather shallowly characterized. Take Tom for example. We know he is the First Assistant D.A. with hopes of being elected D.A. when his superior retires, but reading the book cover to cover, I never really understood what drove this character. I wanted to know what made him tick, to get into his head, to understand why he is the way he is especially since he is the primary lead. There are so many characters that one could hardly expect to get to know them all, but still, I would have liked to see a lot more depth to characters like Tom, Hope and Giorgio.

Ultimately my rating came down to a single factor: I called who did it and nothing kills the ending of a whodunit so much realizing the hunch you've been sitting on most of the book is correct. Though I think Pelagatti's mystery has excellent movement, I can't say it kept me guessing and in the end that is what makes a mystery in my eyes. I want to be hanging on the author's every word, to be blown away by the reveal and that just didn't happen here.

Definitely interesting and worth looking into, especially to those who enjoy true crime novels.

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The NYSE did not return to pre-1929 levels until 1954, and in the years following the crash, every dollar was coveted. Desperate for money, a group of Philadelphia housewives found a way to get some of those coveted dollars. All it took was a willingness to kill. 

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Beauty Possessed by Ben Lokey

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Kindle Library

Read:  November 1, 2012 

On June 25th, 1906, Stanford White, New York City’s leading architect and man about town was shot to death while attending a musical performance at Madison Square Garden’s rooftop theater, a building of his own design and construction. Harry K. Thaw, eccentric heir to a Pittsburgh railroad fortune, had pulled the trigger, marking the final act in a struggle between the two men over Thaw’s young wife, the model and showgirl Evelyn Nesbit. By her sixteenth birthday, in 1900, Evelyn Nesbit was known by millions for her underage sexuality, sparking an entirely new industry of news and gossip and signaling the beginning of America’s growing obsession with beauty, glamour, celebrity and sex.

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Evelyn Nesbit

Ben Lokey's Beauty Possessed is one of those pieces I have a really hard time reviewing. I love historic fiction, but I can't go any higher than three stars on this. For the record a three from me is typical and generally means I liked a book, but for whatever reason I can't say it was a great read or a five star, run up to strangers on the street screaming 'you have to read this!' kind of book.

For those who read my reviews on my blog, I apologize as this it gonna sound very similar to what I said about Protecting His Wolfe. For me, content and execution carry equal weight. I loved that Lokey exposed me to material I had never before encountered, but I feel much of the subject's power was lost in the telling. The erratic shifts from first to third person narrative, sometimes in the past tense and others in the present, disrupted the flow of the story and made the text choppy and uneven. 

Speaking of pacing, I do not like the timeline of events as they appear in Lokey's work. It is not uncommon to see a prologue of sorts, a brief introduction, before a narrative backtracks to the beginning of the story, but Lokey extends this intro for such an extended period that the backtracking to Evelyn's early childhood at the beginning of chapter four seems out of place. 

On the same note there are sections like the last two paragraphs of chapter eight. Present tense third person narration of Evelyn's entry into modeling is seamlessly followed by a first person past tense exposition of Stanford's life. Its a bizarre formatting choice that comes off as unpolished.

You might have noticed I've spent a lot of time on the execution, virtually ignoring the content of Lokey's work. I think the author picked a wonderful story. As the blurb states, Stanford White's murder has it all; beauty, glamour, celebrity, sex. Thing is, I can't speak to the accuracy of it. Until reading Lokey's work I'd never heard of these individuals so I am really at a loss beyond exhibiting an appreciation for the basic story line.

Not my favorite piece of the year, but certainly better than the average kindle freebie.

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Living the life of an artist's model? Absolutely not! It's unconventional. Absolutely bohemian. 

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31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Local Library

Read: October 5, 2012 

The sensational murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell in his lower Manhattan home made front-page news across the United States in 1857. "Who killed Dr. Burdell?" was a question that gripped the nation. 31 Bond Street, a debut novel by Ellen Horan, interweaves fiction with actual events in a clever historical narrative that blends romance, politics, greed and sexual intrigue in a suspenseful drama. The story opens when an errand boy discovers Burdell's body in the bedroom of his posh Bond Street home. The novel's central characters are Dr. Harvey Burdell, a dentist and unscrupulous businessman; his lover, the ambitious, Brooklyn-born Emma Cunningham; the District Attorney, Abraham Oakey Hall (later to become mayor of New York); and Henry Clinton, a prominent defense lawyer. The enigmatic relationship between Emma and Dr. Burdell makes her the prime suspect, and her trial is nothing less than sensational.

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Dr. Harvey Burdell

The murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell and the subsequent trial of Emma Cunningham captured the public imagination when it first appeared in the papers. New Yorkers eagerly anticipated each and every tidbit of information regarding the deceased dentist, the assumed mistress claiming to be his wife and the court room drama surrounding the question of her guilt. Ellen Horan's 31 Bond Street brilliantly recaptures that fascination, revitalizing it  for an audience far removed from the pre civil war America in which it occurred.

One of my favorite aspects of the book was not the characters or even the events of which they are a part, but the backdrop on which the story takes place. New York City in the mid-1800s was a veritable cesspool for the greedy and corrupt. The titillating homicide of a prominent citizen with a shady reputation provides a perfect platform to showcase the ugly underbelly of the city's history. Not only did Horan recognize this, she took and ran with it, exploring every angle from the unscrupulous political machine that tainted every branch of the city's government to the unethical practices that characterized her business interests. 

This attention to detail caught me hook, line and sinker from the very beginning. The subject matter alone is captivating but the obvious research and time Horan put into making it come alive in print is evident on nearly every page, her genuine interest in the story unmistakable. I truly admire such commitment not only to her readers, but also to the history the author chose to showcase. 

Obviously Horan can identify a story and re-imagining the past doesn't phase her in the least. I only wish I could say I enjoyed the cast as much. Don't get me wrong, these aren't poor characterizations, but as a group, they didn't quite hit it out of the park. Harvey, Emma and Ambrose piqued my imagination, but Katuma and Quietta both came short of the mark. Perhaps it is because these two have prominent roles, but no historic counterparts? I'm not entirely sure and I hesitate to assume as I was so impressed by Henry and Elizabeth, two characters who while based on real people are largely imagined by the author.

All in all 31 Bond Street is a wonderful read. Ellen Horan vividly recaptures the spectacle and intrigue of the 1857 case that shocked nation. Not to be missed. 

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Dr Burdell was sprawled in the center of the floor, his arms outstretched, and his head in a sticky puddle that had hardened like tar. His lips were pendant and blue. His throat was slashed with a wound so deep that it nearly detached the head from the torso, revealing a sinewy tangle of muscle and tiny pearls of spine. 

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