This might be a simpler proposition if my life were not quite so chaotic as it is now. If I were at my home in Lenox or my house in Paris, I could tell you to the minute how I spend my day. In any of my homes, there is a great deal to manage. The staff, the menus, guests, gardening, the accounts. In a hotel, all that is done for you. At the Belmont, it is done poorly. But it can’t be helped. Tomorrow evening, I will be dining at Alice Vanderbilt’s—that can’t be helped either.

So at the moment, I am stranded. We are awaiting my husband’s doctor. Mr. Wharton is about to embark on a world tour and his doctor should see him before he leaves. No, I will not be accompanying Mr. Wharton. Marriage is improved, I think, when couples have time apart.

But apparently the doctor is ill. Which sounds like some sort of joke, doesn’t it? And so we wait.

Certain things are constant. I write every morning. In bed, with a writing desk Right now, I’m writing about an ambitious young woman named Undine Spragg who is hurtling her way up in society. But I also have in mind a story about a New England farmer caught in an unhappy marriage. My publisher is not terribly excited about that one. But I am.

I write on blue paper with black ink. If I need to make a change, I paste a strip of paper with the corrected text over the old one. Some pages have many strips. When I’m finished with a page, I drop it to the floor and my secretary whisks it away and types it up. Novels, like houses, should have a clear design and a strong structure.

Oh, you’ve noticed my dog. Dogs are also constant. Yes, you may pet him. He may bite, but his teeth are miniscule, you’ll barely feel it. This is Choumai. He is a Pekingese, which is new for me, but I am in the mood for new. In the past, I’ve favored chihuahuas. I have several, but they’re in Paris right now. I miss them terribly, life doesn’t feel right without dogs.

Certainly, I shall see my editor. My books are published by Scribner’s. I am very fond of Mr. Brownell and Mr. Burlingham. But there is a reason Charles Scribner is called “Old Dodo” and that is because he is an Old Dodo. You must keep an eye on publishers, the things they try to get away with. An author must now not only write the book, you must exert great to persuade the publisher to alert the public to the simple fact that your book exists. Let alone put any effort into persuading them to buy it.

In short, I shall keep busy. I may see some things at the American Art Galleries. I will attend the debut of Natoma at the Metropolitan, the first “truly American opera”—how dreadful do you think it will be? I think very.

A dinner I am looking forward to is one I hope to have with Mr. Henry James, as well my friend Walter Berry, who has returned from Egypt. Also Mr. Morton Fullerton, he’s a journalist, very good on Paris, you should read him. It’s rare that the three of us have the opportunity to dine together. I want to ask their advice about a particular matter. A private matter.

Of course I’m not going to tell you. Did you not hear me when I said private?

The Wharton Plot
Genre: Historical Mystery
Release: January 2024
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

Mariah Fredericks’ mesmerizing novel, The Wharton Plot, follows renowned novelist Edith Wharton in the twilight years of the Gilded Age in New York as she tracks a killer.

New York City, 1911. Edith Wharton, almost equally famed for her novels and her sharp tongue, is bone-tired of Manhattan. Finding herself at a crossroads with both her marriage and her writing, she makes the decision to leave America, her publisher, and her loveless marriage.

And then, dashing novelist David Graham Phillips—a writer with often notorious ideas about society and women’s place in it—is shot to death outside the Princeton Club. Edith herself met the man only once, when the two formed a mutual distaste over tea in the Palm Court of the Belmont hotel. When Phillips is killed, Edith’s life takes another turn. His sister is convinced Graham was killed by someone determined to stop the publication of his next book, which promised to uncover secrets that powerful people would rather stayed hidden. Though unconvinced, Edith is curious. What kind of book could push someone to kill?

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.

About the author
Mariah Fredericks was born, raised, and still lives in New York City. She graduated from Vassar College with a degree in history. She is the author of the Jane Prescott mystery series, which has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her most recent novel, The Lindbergh Nanny, was nominated for the Anthony, the Agatha, and the Sue Feder Memorial Award. She can be reached through her website at mariahfredericksbooks.com.