By Ariel Lawhon

3 / 5 stars
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Where to begin? This was a good, not great, mystery for me.

I love that it was inspired and loosely based on real-life. New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater disappeared without a trace in 1930 with a lot of unanswered questions in his wake.

The book effectively uses a mix of real people and made-up characters to tell the story of what might have happened. The jump between present day and the early thirties effectively creates some tension around whether or not the information we do have about Crater’s disappearance is true or not. It’s a book that will leave you guessing right up until the end.

And if you’re curious, like me, I encourage you to do a little research into the actual events after you finish the book. In my search for pictures of the real-life players I stumbled upon an update on the author’s blog featuring the true story of Sally Lou Ritz (Ritzi) which I thought added to the intrigue of the story.

Fun time period, interesting story, compelling characters. Definitely a solid, if not groundbreaking, mystery.