Caffeinated Reviewer

Sophia Rose is here with a historical mystery. The Girl in the Green Dress by Mariah Fredericks is about the 1920 murder of gambler Joseph Elwell. A locked-room murder mystery based on actual events… count me in.

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.

Sophia Rose’s Review

A Jazz Age era real-life unsolved locked room murder and real-life figures blended with an effervescent fiction plot had me sitting up and taking notice. I’d heard of Mariah Fredericks’ historicals before and planned to read her stuff, but it was the idea of Zelda Fitzgerald as part of an amateur detecting duo that had me pulling the trigger (pun intended).

Morris Markey is driven to leave the southland for the bright glitzy life of New York City for the buzz of excitement that keeps his mind stuck back in the dark days of the war and, he if he wants his big break into the newspaper world, he has to be where it’s all happening. Frustratingly, he can’t quite get his big break, circling the glamorous NYC scene on the edges with no real in. Then, his across the street neighbor gets popped in his own home with all the doors and windows locked, and Markey knows for a fact an unknown woman in a green dress left that house the night before.  An opportunity doesn’t just happen; he makes it happen when he does some private investigating of Elwell’s house on his own.

Scott’s focused on his book and Zelda Fitzgerald is left at loose ends and seized by boredom.  Oh sure, there are parties and wild spectacles to be had, but then a hungry reporter taps her to help get him in with the people surrounding Joseph Ewell and palling around with Markey to get the scoop and then crack the case has her grabbing the bubbly and stepping out on the hunt.

The Girl in the Green Dress was full of the lush, glam Roaring Twenties and the Bright Young Things celebrating life after the darkness of WWI.  Daring Flappers, dashing men, and wealth on display in this NYC society setting, but also the sordid side of life and the effects of war on people who called it ‘shell shock’ or other terms long before PTSD, counseling and therapy came to be known.  I appreciated all this set up and the careful attention to the characters that made the history genre as solid as the mystery side.

The murder victim had his fingers in many pies, and Markey discovered that plenty of people had a reason to see the man dead. Then another murder happens. Fitzgerald appears a few times, and Zelda is a means to ease Markey’s path, but this is very much Markey’s case to solve. There was a short prologue at the beginning, dated decades after the main events of the story, making me well aware of where things would eventually lead. 

I also appreciated the author following up at the end to help explain what was fact and what was fiction. I’d heard a little in previous reading and of course read the requisite F. Scott Fitzgerald book or two for class (including The Great Gatsby). Based on my limited knowledge, the characters seemed to be portrayed well. This seemed to standalone, but I enjoyed it so much and being in the world of The Great Gatsby that I wouldn’t mind if Zelda and Markey got a new murder to solve.

All in all, a sparkling world of light and dark, edgier dealings and a clever blend of the fiction with the reality of this unsolved crime. Charleston dance this one onto your reading stack.

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About Mariah Fredericks

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.

About Sophia Rose

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

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About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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