Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor

 Beautiful Little Fools reimagines the literary classic The Great Gatsby giving voice to three women.

1917, Kentucky. Daisy Fay, eighteen, on a hot summer day in Louisville meets a soldier named Jay Gatsby. That’s not a kind of man her father would approve off, but she finds a Louisville society man dreadfully boring.

Jordan, sixteen, is best friends with Daisy, which her father, Judge Baker, doesn’t approve of. But Jordan is not worried as she is not looking for a man nor marriage. Her life is golf. It is her sanctuary and strength.

1917, New York. Catherine follows her sister Myrtle from Illinois to New York. She doesn’t want to be anyone’s wife in a small town. She wants freedom in a big city. A place that offers excitement and opportunity. A place which now is buzzing with soldier, and she meets one of them named Jay Gatsby.

1922, New York. Detective Frank Charles questions all three women. He knows that all three women lied to him. He just can’t put his finger on how and why yet. There was a shooting, resulting in deaths, and some things are not adding up. Jay Gatsby was known for throwing all the lavish parties and now he is dead. The big question is who pulled the trigger. He also finds a diamond hairpin close to the murder scene and that puts all three women under suspicion.

As the story develops, it brings in events from the three women’s lives and how those events shape their decisions. Those characters are interestingly explored; one chooses marriage to let her live comfortably, two pick freedom over marriage. But even with their strong convictions, they can’t predict all the curveballs that life throws at them. And there is one man who longs for only one particular woman, and will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

The storylines are seamlessly woven, revealing intriguing layers. As the detective tries to figure out the case, once the first puzzle is laid out, it continuously builds the mystery of who did what. As it turns out, someone is exceedingly calculated, carefully orchestrating the scenario.

This reinvented classic brings fascinating women tinged with flaws, and complex life’s events with one detective trying to put the puzzles together - not only to solve the case, but also to receive the monetary reward that goes with it and the money that he could use to treat his wife to something nice and well-deserved. But he is still not there to solve the case and his wife is failing in health. Time is of essence.

Wonderfully reimagined and flawlessly written literally classic that brilliantly explores the women’s lives in 1920s; their choices, their decisions, the limitations, and the prejudice of the era.

Release date: 1 February 2022

Source: Harper Perennial; Harper Collins 

Review originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com