During the early part of the 20th century, there was a rash of public figures that were barely more than puppets for the many gangsters that flourished. From this time comes the story of Judge Joseph Force Crater and his mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930. The investigation and speculation that followed for decades afterwards, garnered him with the title of “the missingest man in New York.” This cold case has now been fictionally re-opened from a new angle – that of the women in Crater’s life, in Ariel Lawhon’s debut novel The Wife, the Maid and the Mistress.
The fact that this infamous case may not be familiar to most readers should have nothing to do with their decision to read it or not.
