Several years
ago, before social media and in the age of blogs, there was a blog devoted to
more or less gentle mockery of the wedding announcements in The New York
Times. The posts focused on the uniform lives of privilege led by
almost all the subjects of those announcements, extended soft-focus profiles of
the well-off and unruffled. Since then, of course, economic and social
equality has become a much more serious and often grim subject in American
life. The internet also seems to have become a much less happy and
innocent place. So what if those columns got the same attention, but
instead of light-hearted jeering it was murder?
The Wedding Column Murders is about a series of murders that initially seem to point in this direction. Is someone killing people profiled in the high society wedding announcements of a major newspaper, one new target each week? This of course seems far-fetched, and there are other suspects and motives for each killing. But as the bodies pile up a pattern seems unmistakeable. Could this be someone with a socioeconomic axe to grind, someone trying to start a revolution, or just someone from the same world as the victims who has their own reasons for wanting them dead?
The story is told by Ethan Balfour, a younger member of one of New York’s elite old money families. He finds himself in the midst of the investigation and various other complications, including the fact that his own sister’s announcement is supposed to run in the paper soon. Along the way there is plenty of humor, sometimes from one of Ethan’s sharp-tongued acquaintances but more often from one of his oblivious peers.
Of course a novel is not a sociological treatise (though I think all forms of writing tend to take on a life of their own once they’re started). Characters need to be fleshed-out human beings, not mere symbols of a social class or a political problem. Some of my favorite parts of the novel are dialogue from some of the more amusing characters. In the end the novel is as much about despair and human psychology as it is a traditional mystery or thriller.
about the
book… Someone is stalking the members of New
York’s wealthy elite.
Reluctantly, Ethan finds himself drawn ever deeper into the case – until its final shocking revelation.
Will the culprit be caught before another member of the illustrious circle falls victim?
The Wedding Column Murders is about a series of murders that initially seem to point in this direction. Is someone killing people profiled in the high society wedding announcements of a major newspaper, one new target each week? This of course seems far-fetched, and there are other suspects and motives for each killing. But as the bodies pile up a pattern seems unmistakeable. Could this be someone with a socioeconomic axe to grind, someone trying to start a revolution, or just someone from the same world as the victims who has their own reasons for wanting them dead?
The story is told by Ethan Balfour, a younger member of one of New York’s elite old money families. He finds himself in the midst of the investigation and various other complications, including the fact that his own sister’s announcement is supposed to run in the paper soon. Along the way there is plenty of humor, sometimes from one of Ethan’s sharp-tongued acquaintances but more often from one of his oblivious peers.
Of course a novel is not a sociological treatise (though I think all forms of writing tend to take on a life of their own once they’re started). Characters need to be fleshed-out human beings, not mere symbols of a social class or a political problem. Some of my favorite parts of the novel are dialogue from some of the more amusing characters. In the end the novel is as much about despair and human psychology as it is a traditional mystery or thriller.
Reluctantly, Ethan finds himself drawn ever deeper into the case – until its final shocking revelation.
Will the culprit be caught before another member of the illustrious circle falls victim?
You can follow Jeffrey on his Author Page and on Twitter
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