The Girl in the Green Dress: A Mystery Featuring Zelda Fitzgerald

As in her earlier novels (The Lindbergh Nanny, The Wharton Plot), Fredericks brings history to life through the eyes of a lesser mortal who is thrust into the world of the rich—and in this case, the notorious—and as in her previous works, succeeds brilliantly. Morris Markey is a New York Daily News journalist in the roaring twenties when he sees Joseph Elwell, a neighbor on the swanky side of their Manhattan street, escorted home by the mysterious woman of the book’s title, her dress resembling confetti made from money. He thinks little of it—the rich will be the rich, after all—until the next morning, when Elwell is found dead. Markey seeks help from a couple who know everyone and can get in anywhere: Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, whose glamorous yet sad life is examined in emotional detail by Fredericks. Scott gets less limelight here than Zelda, whose desperation to be fascinating takes center stage and will engross readers. Authenticity shines from the page as the author provides tidbits from period journalism and other sources and recreates the forced frippery of the Fitzgeralds’ sometimes-mean bon mots. A real world is carefully created around the question of who the girl in the green dress is, whether she killed Elwell, and how far into the Fitzgeralds’ glitzy world a working man dares go. For a great pairing, try this alongside Avery Cunningham’s The Mayor of Maxwell Street.