This historical fiction novel set in Manhattan in the waning years of the Gilded Age told from the perspective of Edith Warton, a famous novelist of the time. She gets involved with the murder of a fellow writer, David Graham Phillips, and feels compelled to help solve the mystery. After a slow beginning, the story picks up with Edith reading Phillips novel that is to be published and what she thinks is the cause of his death. The end of this book contains some surprises because Edith gets herself wrapped up in the investigation.
I enjoyed this story because Edith doesn't follow social protocols and writes for a living. The descriptions of the era bloomed in my head and I felt as though I was walking down the street with her or sitting in one of her conversations. As I read, I recognized other characters and locations I know so I found that fun for me. The second half of this book reads much quicker than the beginning and the ending was satisfying. If you like historical mysteries and a Gilded Age setting, I would recommend this book.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Really enjoyed reading this historical mystery based on a true story.Edith Wharton on the search for a murderer set in the Gilded Age perfection and fun.Mariah Fredricks is a wonderful author and her latest is another page turner for me.#netgalley #st.martins

DNF at 20%.
I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and I wanted to like The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks. The premise had me hooked, but I found the characters stuffy and uninteresting. I feel that there was little forward progression in the story up until this point.
Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am a big fan of Mariah Fredericks’ vivid historical fiction. I adore her Jane Prescott series, featuring a lady’s maid in 1910 New York. Somehow Jane ends up investigating crimes with the blessing of the family she works for, often with the help of a friendly investigative reporter. She’s now moved toward standalone historical novels – in 2022’s The Lindbergh Nanny she follows the kidnapping through the eyes of the nursemaid to the baby. In The Wharton Plot, Edith Wharton takes on the true murder of a well known (at the time) author, David Graham Phillips.

Set in Fredericks’ comfort zone – 1911, gilded age New York – she brings alive Edith Wharton’s life and imagines her thoughts. As the book opens, Edith is having lunch with her publisher when they are joined by Phillips, who Edith finds rude and dismissive. How could she understand the modern American woman? Phillips asks, continuing to describe his forthcoming novel, which he says will expose the true life of American womanhood. (In 1911 Wharton was the well known author of The House of Mirth.)

Edith is in a funny liminal place – she’s fed up with her marriage, she’s in between books and pondering the next one, and she’s unsure of her former flame’s affections. She’s just turned 50 and is feeling used up and, as many women feel after age 40, a bit invisible. When Mr. Phillips is shot to death the day after she meets him in front of the Princeton club she feels drawn to discover what happened to him.

She agrees to attend the funeral with her sometime beau and afterward, the reception at the dead man’s apartment. She finds herself agreeing to read the manuscript of the new book, and promising his widow she will do what she can to support it. She’s mainly using it as an excuse to avoid her husband, who is obviously suffering from early dementia. All Edith really wants is to get back to Paris.

Edith must read the manuscript at the publisher’s office and as she reads, she begins to understand the murdered man a bit more, and it’s an expansive view for her as he was known as a muckraker and Wharton, of course, chronicled the lives of the upper echelons of society. Before he was killed, he was receiving scary, threatening notes, and now Edith is receiving them as well.

This is a very New York book, obviously written by a New Yorker. As Edith and her friends bemoan the changes or losses of this building or that business, what’s really true about New York, then and now, is it’s constant state of change. As New York is changing – even as Edith participates in seemingly already antiquated social events with Vanderbilts and Astors – so is Edith’s life. She’s moving toward a decision on her marriage, toward a break with her beau, and she’s beginning to finalize thoughts of her new novel.

Her investigation takes her to the upper echelons of politics and society and through the realm of literary New York. It’s a bit of a discursive investigation but she ultimately uncovers the killer. What I enjoyed was the visit inside the mind of one of America’s greatest writers. It’s hard to say if Wharton had some kind of existential crisis as she turned 50, but as she’s rendered by Fredericks, it certainly seems believable. Fredericks also accomplishes what I thought was impossible: a desire to re-read Ethan Frome. This was an interesting and unexpected read.

Love the cover, and I really enjoyed learning more about Edith Wharton. Nothing can compare to "The Lindbergh Nanny," which is still my absolute FAVORITE book of Mariah's. This made for a fun read though!

This novel is set in about 1911 in New York City and is a delightful mystery involving the great novelist Edith Wharton. It is a fun peek into the lives and social settings of the rich and famous people of the Gilded Age. Following the very mysterious shooting death of author David Graham Phillips, Edith’s publisher asks her to read the book pre-publication to see if this is any indication of why he was murdered. She becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. This is based on a true crime of the period but it did not involve Edith Wharton. It asks the questions who did it and why?

This was a slow read for me but held my interest. I have recently read the Lindbergh Nanny by this author and knew this would be worth reading. I was not disappointed.

I wish to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I would categorize this book as historical mystery. It features Edith Wharton, author, in NYC in 1911. She is bored with her life when another writer is murdered and she gets pulled into investigating. Apparently this is based on true events and makes for an entertaining read.

My thanks to Net Galley and St Martin s Press ,plus the personal invitation I received to review this arc.

This was a different take on the murder mystery. Author Edith Wharton, of Ethan Frome fame, solves the murder of a fellow writer who she thinks was killed to prevent publication of his book.

This was just ok. Not wowed. Slow build up that dragged on for me.

My dear readers might know that I adore Edith Wharton. In fact, when tasked with writing a ghost story, the first thing I did was reread my favorites by Wharton, including Afterward. With the goal of creating a story in a similar style, I wrote Among the Lost set in 1927 Northern Michigan.

The Lindburgh Nanny was my introduction to the writing of Mariah Fredericks.. Clearly, I enjoyed it enough to jump at the chance to read an early copy of her newest novel. When I received an email from Minotaur Books asking if I’d like to read The Wharton Plot, I said, “Solving a mystery with Edith Wharton? Yes, please!”

Historical facts not treated as spoilers.

Since dear Mrs Wharton did not actually have anything to do with investigating the murder of writer David Graham Phillips, this novel is purely fiction, but it was fun to spend time with one of my favorite classic authors in Gilded Age New York. Historically, the murder required no investigation, because the killer was known straight away. If you don’t know who it was or what happened, I won’t give it away here. Fredericks creates a gap in time between the murder and the discovery of the killer in order to take Mrs Wharton on an adventure.

I’m normally a purist when it comes to historical fiction, but Fredericks adjustments to the facts in this case don’t change much at the core of the story and enable the reader to get a good look at the senseless tragedy through Edith Wharton’s eyes.

When Edith wonders that Phillips was gunned down in broad daylight in the middle of the street, her friend makes some derogatory comments about guns, which I thought might have been an anachronistic attitude. However, when I did a bit of research after finishing the book, I learned that this case did actually spur one of America's early gun control laws. It's always nice to learn something when reading historical fiction!

Just how does a middle-aged author end up obsessed with solving the murder of a fellow author whom she just met and didn’t like? “She was aware that she would rather spend the afternoon with the corpse of a man she detested rather than her living, breathing husband.” The failing relationship of the Whartons and women’s limited options in life – even if you’re a woman with Edith Wharton’s resources – are secondary themes in this book and are well done. I could go on about challenges that women still face in this day of being able and expected to do it all, but I have a book review to write.

Edith is initially not impressed by the victim's sister's theory that he was killed by someone trying to halt the publication of his latest novel. "This was why radicals were so irritating. To persuade themselves of their importance, they insisted the entire world was involved in a vast intrigue to thwart them." She investigates a few theories of her own, and through her actions the reader gets a glimpse at The Four Hundred and their shallow interactions and maneuverings. As Edith looks at them with fresh eyes in her search for a killer, she realizes how much they get away with due to their deep pockets. Could one of them have wanted Phillips dead?

He wrote the sort of stories that made people angry, exposing political payoffs and scandalous social lives. Edith is warned to stop digging, which only makes her more eager to discover the elusive truth. "Do not write this. What words could be more provocative to a writer? What clearer sign that there was a story here to write?"

Edith isn't sure who killed Phillips, but she is sure that it has something to do with his writing. Even when one dismissed suspect claims it's a crazy theory because no one cares about books. "The calm assertion that books did not matter was such heresy to her that she had no idea how to refute it." I couldn't agree more, Edith.

Of course, Mrs Wharton does find her killer in a dramatic ending, but that is all I will say about that, so that you can enjoy The Wharton Plot yourself when it is released in January 2024!

4/5 ⭐️
This was an interesting take on a murder mystery set the Gilded Age. You can tell the author did her research, sharing the vast and interconnecting details of this particular society that inspired so many influential stories of the time. The main character of Edith Wharton was fascinating and enigmatic. I cannot say if it is close to the real woman as I have only read one of her books, but she was fascinating to read. Especially since this book wasn’t solely about the murder mystery, but also about aging, of friendships, of falling out of love yet still loving the person you married, of corruption and money, of the hypocrisy of humanity. It was a fascinating and captivating read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Publishing for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

This is historical fiction that left me feeling spent. The lead character is an aristocrat in 1910. She is stuffy. self-centered, a staid character. I could not connect with Edith Wharton or any of the characters. The pompous attitude made me want to stop reading but I had made a promise to read and review. There was a grey feeling lingering over the plot and the name dropping was another level of 'who cares".

This book may reflect the attitude of that social group but they are not anyone I want to associate with.

Being this book is listed on Minotaur Books (St Martin's) and Tynsdale I was expecting a more Christian life balance.

This is the rambling story of Edith Wharton who is tired of her ailing husband and wants him gone. She meets another writer who is obnoxious and then hears that he has been killed. She helps to figure out what happened.

This is a well-written, entertaining, historical fiction, mystery novel which is based on actual persons, and is inspired by a true story. It has a likable and intelligent female protagonist, a vividly described, early twentieth century Manhattan setting, the appearance of several interesting historical figures, murder, intrigue, twists and turns, and a satisfying conclusion. Ms. Frederick's depiction of Edith Wharton has inspired me to research her life to learn more about this fascinating woman. Many thanks to Ms. Mariah Fredericks, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley who kindly provided me with an ARC of this wonderful novel. This is my honest opinion.

I thought that The Wharton Plot was an intriguing book, to say the least. As a writer myself, I found it fascinating that the main character investigating the murder was an author herself, a woman who clearly continued to grow as the story went on. The feeling of this book reminded me of Downton Abbey mixed with Agatha Christie, and although this book wasn't anything super extraordinary, I still found it to be an enjoyable read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an ARC copy so I could give my honest review!

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
I thought that this book was interesting since it was based on Edith Wharton who was a real person. The book definitely had some interesting tidbits, but it was a bit dry at times and I had to push myself to finish it.

Inspired by a true story, The Wharton Plot follows Edith Wharton through the fading years of the Gilded Age in a city she once loved so well, telling a taut tale of fame, love, and murder, as she becomes obsessed with solving a crime.


The theme of book banning is at the heart of this murder mystery. And it couldn’t be a more timely read.


It is 1911 in New York City and Edith Wharton is tired of it all. She can’t seem to write and her marriage is in dire straits. She is ready to chuck it all and leave the country.


Until the novelist David Graham Phillips is murdered in broad daylight in front of the Princeton Club! Having met him only recently, Edith is intrigued when his sister asks her to look into things. She has a feeling this is about his latest book, which is causing quite the stir even before it is published.
What kind of book would someone kill over?


And that is a good question, especially now. Is one person’s opinion of a book enough to have it banned and their reputation scuttled?


While Edith is a prickly character, she is going to get to the bottom of this one! Maybe her career and marriage are over, but she isn’t letting go of this one!


Always a pleasure to read this author.


Netgalley/ St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur January 2024

I loved The Lindbergh Nanny so I was all over her newest title and it did not disappoint.
The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks was so intriguing and I could not put it down.
The setting of 1911 in New York City was so captivating. The historical backdrop was a powerful and haunting setting.
Fredericks did a good job presenting a historically accurate depiction. The plot is well-paced with a lovely mix of real and fictional historic people and events.
The mystery kept me captivated and utterly intrigued.

Thank You NetGalley and Minotaur Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Proud and prickly author Edith Wharton is temporarily marooned in New York City with her ailing husband in The Wharton Plot, and she is not at all pleased with the changes that early 20th century life is bringing to “her” Gilded Age city. The Metropolitan Opera House is new, Grand Central Station is little more than a massive gash in the ground, and, worst of all, her publisher seems thoroughly uninterested in her current work-in-progress.

With time on her hands, Edith is drawn into investigating the death of a young author who detested her on sight. (How dare he claim that she didn’t understand today’s woman?) And as she gathers clues and talks to suspects among the city’s elite, Edith uncovers the murderer while simultaneously working through the knotty problems of her loveless marriage and faithless lover.

In this well-researched and beautifully crafted novel, Author Mariah Fredericks infuses heart and soul into an author who can seem stiff to our 21st century tastes while conjuring an early 20th century New York that is disturbingly like our own times. A must-read.

Our two-mile square town’s library has visitors who scan the shelves and hide books that they find objectionable. So, when I recently gave away fifty books through the city’s “shares” page, I was surprised that no one was offended that some of those books were LGBTQ stories.

Back in Edith Wharton’s day, Anthony Comstock’s New York Society for the Suppression of Vice exposed writers whose work he found offensive. In The Wharton Plot, Comstock tells Edith Wharton that all fiction is suspect, for fiction is fantasy and allows people to create their own morals. He noted that fifteen women “exposed by the Society have taken their own lives,” which seemed like justice to him.

The theme of book banning is at the heart of this murder mystery.

Readers are swept into the Gilded Age world of New York City’s elite where “most of life was spent pretending one liked someone one loathed, lavishly praising a mediocre effort, or remaining silent.” One of the people Wharton meets is another author who she instantly dislikes. The next day, he is murdered on the street. Wharton becomes obsessed with discovering who killed him, and why. The man’s publisher allows her to read the manuscript of the forthcoming book that apparently offended the murderer. She then receives letters similar to the ones the author had received before his murder.

Wharton visits her dear friend Henry James for advice. She carries her beloved dog everywhere. She supervises care for her invalided husband Teddy, while maintaining separate lives as much as possible. She bundles in her furs and investigates.

I enjoyed the characters and the world of the novel, and especially how the author connected Wharton’s world to today’s. The newly strung electric wires strung everywhere, bringing instant connection but not happiness. The pressure of market demands and opinion on the publishing world. Gun violence. Money controlling American politics.

I sped through the book in two sittings.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

I loved this historical mystery and the premise of the plot and characters. I felt it was well written and learned a lot about Wharton and the gilded age