Social Crimes

In a story of the richest of the rich in New York City, Jo Slater, the wife of a wealthy man, befriends a French woman named Monique. When Jo's husband of 20 years dies, she finds that Monique has inherited all. As Jo tries to get the money back, she begins to slide down the steep slope of poverty and depression. Barbara Rosenblat's performance of Jo's story is flawless as she becomes the cultured, rich philanthropist; the sycophantic Monique; the smarmy lawyers, and the others of this social set. What crimes did Jo commit? Or was it Monique? Rosenblat tells all in this novel of possession and obsession, love and lust, and pure hatred. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

April 15, 2002
How does Hitchcock's amusing saga differ from the scads of books involving money, murder and high society? There's the economy and wit of her prose ("murder was never my goal in life," heroine Jo Slater begins), and then there's Jo's awareness of how silly the upper crust is ("if you're nice and you lose all your money, you're out. But if you're a sh-t with a private plane, you're in"). Playing on the tried and true theme of the older wife being dumped for the young miss, Hitchcock (Trick of the Eye) offers a funny, lightweight tale. Jo is living the life: she's married to a billionaire, owns a sumptuous apartment in Manhattan, a rambling home in the Hamptons and a magnificent collection of 18th-century art. Things are just perfect until pretty young thing Monique de Passy enters her world (seemingly as a friend), Jo's husband dies, and Jo learns that he's left his estate to none other than the charming French countess. What follows—and constitutes the bulk of the book—is Jo's attempt to frame Monique as a seductress and murderer. Her approach is, for the most part, honorable. Jo is smart and has plenty of connections, and even though her financial situation becomes dire after her husband's death (she takes cabs instead of limousines and wears old couture dresses to parties), she holds her head high and eventually triumphs. Hitchcock's prose is airy and her plot moves quickly, making this a quintessential beach book. (June)Forecast:Readers of Diane Johnson's
Le Divorce and this season's bestselling
The Nanny Diaries will lap this up. Come summer,
Social Crimes is likely to show up in tote bags and on cabana tables from Boca and Bridgehampton to Beverly Hills.