{"product_id":"the-wife-the-maid-and-the-mistress-a-novel","title":"The Wife  the Maid  and the Mistress: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eInspired by a real-life unsolved mystery  this mesmerizing novel features characters that make a lasting impression.--PEOPLE MAGAZINE  \"More meticulously choreographed than a chorus line. It all pays off.\"--THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW  They say behind every great man  theres a woman. In this case  there are three. Stella Crater  the judges wife  is the picture of propriety draped in long pearls and the latest Chanel. Ritzi  a leggy showgirl with Broadway aspirations  thinks moonlighting in the judges bed is the quickest way off the chorus line. Maria Simon  the dutiful maid  has the judge to thank for her husbands recent promotion to detective in the NYPD. Meanwhile  Crater is equally indebted to Tammany Hall leaders and the citys most notorious gangster  Owney \"The Killer\" Madden.  On a sultry summer night  as rumors circulate about the judges involvement in wide-scale political corruption  the Honorable Joseph Crater steps into a cab and disappears without a trace. Or does he?  After 39 years of necessary duplicity  Stella Crater is finally ready to reveal what she knows. Sliding into a plush leather banquette at Club Abbey  the site of many absinthe-soaked affairs and the judges favorite watering hole back in the day  Stella orders two whiskeys on the rocksone for her and one in honor of her missing husband. Stirring the ice cubes in the lowball glass  Stella begins to tell a taleof greed  lust  and deceit. As the novel unfolds and the women slyly break out of their prescribed roles  it becomes clear that each knows more than she has initially let on.  With a layered intensity and prose as effervescent as the bubbly that flows every night  The Wife  the Maid  and the Mistress is a wickedly entertaining historical mystery that will transport readers to a bygone era with tipsy spins through subterranean jazz clubs and backstage dressing rooms. But beneath the Art Deco skyline and amid the intoxicating smell of smoke and whiskey  the question of why Judge Crater disappeared lingers seductively until a twist in the very last pages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946180800565,"sku":"ByrdShop_038553762X","price":53.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780385537629.jpg?v=1769927661","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-wife-the-maid-and-the-mistress-a-novel","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}