Socal Crimes [Audio CD]

Jane Stanton Hitchcock (Author), Barbara Rosenblat (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2005

Murder was never my goal in life. I'm a very sentimental person at heart. I cry in old movies. I love animals and children. So if anyone had told me five years ago that I could have willfully and with malice aforethought killed a fellow human being, I would have said they were crazy. But life has surprises in store for all of us... Jo Slater is a grand dame of New York society; some say the grandest. But she is about to be dethroned. Her wealthy husband of twenty years dies under strange circumstances and leaves his entire fortune to a mysterious French countess. Sliding down the social ladder faster than you can say "Versace," Jo discovers she has been the victim of a plot and decides to get some very sweet revenge. Your days are numbered, Countess!

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Ruth Rendell meets Dominick Dunne in this deliciously dark and witty novel about social climbing and murder. When husband Lucius dies of a heart attack under rather sordid and suspicious circumstances, prominent New York socialite Jo Slater is shocked to learn that he has left his sizable estate, including the Southampton mansion and Fifth Avenue apartment, to a mysterious French countess. Exiled from the kingdom of money, power, and privilege, Jo struggles to rebuild her life only to find herself thwarted at every turn by the countess. From working as a Park Avenue interior decorator to selling "wholesale carpets and hotel furnishings on Lexington and 26th Street," Jo quickly slides down the social ladder until she hits rock bottom, buying a pair of Hush Puppies (on sale) for her aching feet: "Symbolizing my ugly new life of drudgery and hopelessness, those Hush Puppies were just about the most depressing purchase I had ever, ever made." Obsessed with recovering her fortune and place as queen of "le tout New York," Jo concocts an audacious scheme of fraud and murder. Can she pull it off? For sophisticated readers wanting the perfect beach read, Hitchcock's third novel (after Trick of the Eye and The Witches' Hammer) offers a bubbly cocktail of psychological suspense and social satire. Strongly recommended for popular fiction collections. Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD: 720 pages
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; MP3 Una edition (July 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786190000
• ISBN-13: 978-0786190003
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,906,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Plotting, May 24, 2002

By 

Linda Fairstein (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Crimes (Hardcover)

I've been waiting for several years since devouring Jane Stanton Hitchcock's first two novels (the Edgar-nominated TRICK OF THE EYE, and the sinister WITCHES'HAMMER) and now she's back in brilliant form. Just in time for a great beach read, but far more clever and perceptive than simply a delightful diversion, SOCIAL CRIMES nails New York's society mavens and manners absolutely dead-on. This is a writer who clearly knows her subject and the world about which she writes, makes you care about her characters, has a great sense of humor, and uses an obscure and stunning legal device to set the devious plot in motion. Hitchcock took me directly into her world and kept me there, riveted to the pages. The book is smart, funny, well-written - and, as one of the reviewers said, drawing my attention to the book - just delicious. Highly recommended.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Predictable, but I couldn't put it down, May 16, 2002

By 

Poppy Mama (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Crimes (Hardcover)

I don't normally read "beach fiction", but something about this story caught my attention. I read about it in a magazine (New York?) and when I saw it in a window, I couldn't resist.
While the main character, Jo, starts out fairly sympathetic, she becomes something that isn't very attractive. I understand that the author wanted to demonstrate exactly how desperate and petty this woman becomes, but I couldn't help but wish she would either; shut up, deal with it, and/or get herself together.
I understood fairly quickly the similarities that were being played out through Jo's life and Marie-Antionette's. It came to be a little much when she just happened to find a prostitute who was "the twin" of Monique, exactly what happened in the affair of the necklace. In the same story, we are to see Jo go from the Queen to the scheming penniless aristocrat, back to the Queen. Only this time, Marie-Antionette wins, she escapes the guillotine, makes an overwhelmingly triumphant return to society and assumes her former role.
The final scene at the ball is a bit much. The author literally tells us who each of the characters would be in the life of Marie-Antoinette. I think the author assumed that her readers wouldn't "get it" on their own so she spells it out. This was a bit insulting to the reader and indulgent of the author.
All things cosidered, I do recommend this book for the simple fact that I uderstood why Jo did what she did and was even hoping she would succeed even though I did't really like her.
It is a good book for people who want something but haven't really considered what it costs.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life Among the Rich and Famous Can Be Deadly!, December 23, 2002

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Social Crimes (Hardcover)

In the tradition of Edith Wharton, and with a clever and witty look at New York society, Jane Stanton Hitchcock presents a fast paced read with her newest book, Social Crimes.
This is the third book I've read by Ms. Hitchcock and this is her best book so far. With an almost tongue in cheek approach, the author presents less than sterling characters in a plot readers will long remember.

Jo Slater is living a life beyond her wildest dreams. A former restaurant hostess from the Midwest, Jo is now married to an enormously wealthy older man. She has become a true society lady owning an estate in the Hamptons, a fabulous apartment in Manhattan and a collection of priceless art and antiques, which includes a necklace owned by Josephine Bonaparte. But Jo is about to suffer a fall from grace when she befriends a French Countess whose background is quite mysterious. When Countess Monique has nowhere to stay for the remainder of the summer, Jo graciously offers her their guesthouse. And while Jo and Monique become fast friends, and Jo reveals a bit too much about herself, Monique is soon to prove to be quite the manipulator at Jo's expense.
All too soon, Jo is living on the other side of great wealth and society life, while Monique is now one of New York society's latest society ladies. After a period of disbelief as to what has happened to her, Jo moves into high gear and learns that revenge can have a higher price than she thought possible.

Like The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, Ms. Hitchcock has a fine eye and ear for depicting life among the very wealthy. One reads this book with a chuckle and realizes at the end that position and wealth can be fleeting at the best of times.