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The Gatsby Gambit

A Novel

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A clever, transporting murder mystery, The Gatsby Gambit explores a world of class, money, glamour, and foul play—and reimagines some of America’s most beloved literary characters

Greta Gatsby has at last graduated from her stifling finishing school, is on the brink of turning twenty-one, and hopes to finally have her own legendary summer with her brother and guardian, Jay, at his West Egg mansion. Orphaned along with him some years before the war, Greta has seen her fortunes rise on the high tide of his entrepreneurship, even as she has remained in the shadows of his life—too young to join his late-night soirees or infamous summer parties and too shy to trade banter and barbs with his cadre of new friends.

Jay’s wish for her has been to shake off their new-money stain and gain a level of social acceptance he’s never quite enjoyed. She’s simply looking forward to reconnecting with him and embracing life as a modern young woman. She arrives at West Egg with a fresh and daring new bob hairdo to find Daisy and Tom Buchanan also summering at the mansion, along with Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker. And it’s hard to be noticed when the luminous and multifaceted Daisy Buchanan is in the same room. 

But when one of their guests is murdered, Greta turns sleuth as the veil is lifted on Gatsby’s household and its inhabitants, including its staff. Tightly plotted, with thrilling prose and sensuous detail, this homage to and reinvention of a world American readers have lionized for generations ultimately reveals the secrets and lies that perpetuate the romantic notion that being rich is the answer to all of life’s problems.

Like the Enola Holmes series and The Christie Affair, The Gatsby Gambit is designed to bring new readers into the world of the original, iconic novel, as well as delight fans with its clever secrets and reverence for all things Gatsby.
“It takes more than a little verve to write a story based on the iconic characters created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in perhaps the twentieth century’s most famous American novel, but Claire Anderson-Wheeler has done just that with The Gatsby Gambit. And, say, old sport, it’s delightful.”
Associated Press

“To celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of The Great Gatsby by shooting Tom Buchanan dead strikes me as a brilliant stroke of literary assassination . . . Anderson-Wheeler examines questions of class and wealth that feel current in today’s tumultuous era.”
The Christian Science Monitor

“A thoroughly enjoyable mystery story with all the tropes and pleasures of a golden age detective story… Well-written and pacy, inflected by the original characters and setting but otherwise unconstrained by them, The Gatsby Gambit romps along in rather happier vein than Fitzgerald might have recognised.”
The Guardian

“A clever homage to the original novel’s criminal underpinnings. Through a combination of familiar characters in new and dramatic situations, Anderson-Wheeler tackles great themes that have preoccupied writers since Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation: money, class, status, and sex.”
—Oprah Daily

“Anderson-Wheeler obviously loves and has been thoughtful about the source material, and she has written a novel that respects its elder while, like a boat against the current, she takes its characters in a completely new direction.”
Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Rethink one of America’s most beloved literary characters in this page-turning mystery set during the gilded opulence of the Roaring Twenties.”
—Criminal Element


The Gatsby Gambit fully delivers with the characters we love and the time and setting that made The Great Gatsby so special . . . a refreshing update indeed!”
BookReporter

“The novel brims with lavish 1920s details such as etched crystal wineglasses and Jay's Rolls-Royce; it brims, too, with reflections on power, wealth, and who has access to true happiness. Entertaining and slyly philosophical, The Gatsby Gambit is a clever mystery and a neat twist on an American classic.”
Shelf Awareness

“In a delicious twist on one of my favourite classic tragedies, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Claire Anderson-Wheeler takes his unforgettable characters and shapes their story in a very entertaining Jazz Age, country house murder mystery.”
—Brown Flopsy

“I sometimes find there’s an indescribable something that means I know I will enjoy a book from the first few pages. That’s what happened with The Gatsby Gambit. A thoroughly enjoyable, roaring return to 1920s West Egg. I hope there’s more investigations from Greta in the future.”
—From First Page to Last

“Lively, smart, and fun, The Gatsby Gambit is both a clever murder mystery and a complex reckoning with a literary legacy. As charming as Daisy Buchanan herself, and as full of pathos.”
—Flynn Berry, author of New York Times bestseller Northern Spy

“With a fiercely defiant female lead and secrets as sharp as the prose, The Gatsby Gambit oozes glamour and intrigue. I loved this bold take on a beloved classic.”
—Trisha Sakhlecha, author of Can You See Me Now? and The Inheritance.

“Claire Anderson-Wheeler brilliantly intertwines the allure of the Jazz Age with a gripping murder mystery in The Gatsby Gambit. A dazzling homage to Fitzgerald's world, this novel captivates from the first page to the last.
—Joanna Wallace, author of You’d Look Better as a Ghost

“Like so many, I’m familiar with the dazzling, tragic characters of The Great Gatsby. But in this reimagining of their world, Claire sheds new light on who suffers, and who succeeds. As well as a mystery, it’s a coming-of-age story for Jay’s younger sister, Gigi, and I loved her growing insights into her privileged life, and what it costs. It’s an accomplished and satisfying read imbued with the luxury and lurking danger in the jewel of West Egg.
—S.J. Bennett, bestselling author of the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series.

“With an ambitious premise for a debut novel, Anderson-Wheeler revises Fitzgerald’s classic with reassuring authenticity and refreshing zest to deliver a thoroughly satisfying, coy murder mystery. F. Scott would approve.”
Booklist

“This novel pays homage to the classic with a fresh point of view that will please Gatsby fans and mystery readers. Both Gigi and the novel are clever and breathe new life into one of the definitive novels of the twentieth century.”
Library Journal

“Featuring much of the glamour and sparkle of Fitzgerald’s original, this reprise of Gatsby’s cautionary tale also revisits the distressing realities behind the glitz. A mystery with a message (and some great jewelry).”
Kirkus Reviews
Claire Anderson-Wheeler is an Irish writer currently based in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband, an artist. She has previously lived in New York, London, Dublin, Brussels, and Geneva. View titles by Claire Anderson Wheeler

About

A clever, transporting murder mystery, The Gatsby Gambit explores a world of class, money, glamour, and foul play—and reimagines some of America’s most beloved literary characters

Greta Gatsby has at last graduated from her stifling finishing school, is on the brink of turning twenty-one, and hopes to finally have her own legendary summer with her brother and guardian, Jay, at his West Egg mansion. Orphaned along with him some years before the war, Greta has seen her fortunes rise on the high tide of his entrepreneurship, even as she has remained in the shadows of his life—too young to join his late-night soirees or infamous summer parties and too shy to trade banter and barbs with his cadre of new friends.

Jay’s wish for her has been to shake off their new-money stain and gain a level of social acceptance he’s never quite enjoyed. She’s simply looking forward to reconnecting with him and embracing life as a modern young woman. She arrives at West Egg with a fresh and daring new bob hairdo to find Daisy and Tom Buchanan also summering at the mansion, along with Nick Carraway and Jordan Baker. And it’s hard to be noticed when the luminous and multifaceted Daisy Buchanan is in the same room. 

But when one of their guests is murdered, Greta turns sleuth as the veil is lifted on Gatsby’s household and its inhabitants, including its staff. Tightly plotted, with thrilling prose and sensuous detail, this homage to and reinvention of a world American readers have lionized for generations ultimately reveals the secrets and lies that perpetuate the romantic notion that being rich is the answer to all of life’s problems.

Like the Enola Holmes series and The Christie Affair, The Gatsby Gambit is designed to bring new readers into the world of the original, iconic novel, as well as delight fans with its clever secrets and reverence for all things Gatsby.

Reviews

“It takes more than a little verve to write a story based on the iconic characters created by F. Scott Fitzgerald in perhaps the twentieth century’s most famous American novel, but Claire Anderson-Wheeler has done just that with The Gatsby Gambit. And, say, old sport, it’s delightful.”
Associated Press

“To celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of The Great Gatsby by shooting Tom Buchanan dead strikes me as a brilliant stroke of literary assassination . . . Anderson-Wheeler examines questions of class and wealth that feel current in today’s tumultuous era.”
The Christian Science Monitor

“A thoroughly enjoyable mystery story with all the tropes and pleasures of a golden age detective story… Well-written and pacy, inflected by the original characters and setting but otherwise unconstrained by them, The Gatsby Gambit romps along in rather happier vein than Fitzgerald might have recognised.”
The Guardian

“A clever homage to the original novel’s criminal underpinnings. Through a combination of familiar characters in new and dramatic situations, Anderson-Wheeler tackles great themes that have preoccupied writers since Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation: money, class, status, and sex.”
—Oprah Daily

“Anderson-Wheeler obviously loves and has been thoughtful about the source material, and she has written a novel that respects its elder while, like a boat against the current, she takes its characters in a completely new direction.”
Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Rethink one of America’s most beloved literary characters in this page-turning mystery set during the gilded opulence of the Roaring Twenties.”
—Criminal Element


The Gatsby Gambit fully delivers with the characters we love and the time and setting that made The Great Gatsby so special . . . a refreshing update indeed!”
BookReporter

“The novel brims with lavish 1920s details such as etched crystal wineglasses and Jay's Rolls-Royce; it brims, too, with reflections on power, wealth, and who has access to true happiness. Entertaining and slyly philosophical, The Gatsby Gambit is a clever mystery and a neat twist on an American classic.”
Shelf Awareness

“In a delicious twist on one of my favourite classic tragedies, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Claire Anderson-Wheeler takes his unforgettable characters and shapes their story in a very entertaining Jazz Age, country house murder mystery.”
—Brown Flopsy

“I sometimes find there’s an indescribable something that means I know I will enjoy a book from the first few pages. That’s what happened with The Gatsby Gambit. A thoroughly enjoyable, roaring return to 1920s West Egg. I hope there’s more investigations from Greta in the future.”
—From First Page to Last

“Lively, smart, and fun, The Gatsby Gambit is both a clever murder mystery and a complex reckoning with a literary legacy. As charming as Daisy Buchanan herself, and as full of pathos.”
—Flynn Berry, author of New York Times bestseller Northern Spy

“With a fiercely defiant female lead and secrets as sharp as the prose, The Gatsby Gambit oozes glamour and intrigue. I loved this bold take on a beloved classic.”
—Trisha Sakhlecha, author of Can You See Me Now? and The Inheritance.

“Claire Anderson-Wheeler brilliantly intertwines the allure of the Jazz Age with a gripping murder mystery in The Gatsby Gambit. A dazzling homage to Fitzgerald's world, this novel captivates from the first page to the last.
—Joanna Wallace, author of You’d Look Better as a Ghost

“Like so many, I’m familiar with the dazzling, tragic characters of The Great Gatsby. But in this reimagining of their world, Claire sheds new light on who suffers, and who succeeds. As well as a mystery, it’s a coming-of-age story for Jay’s younger sister, Gigi, and I loved her growing insights into her privileged life, and what it costs. It’s an accomplished and satisfying read imbued with the luxury and lurking danger in the jewel of West Egg.
—S.J. Bennett, bestselling author of the Her Majesty the Queen Investigates series.

“With an ambitious premise for a debut novel, Anderson-Wheeler revises Fitzgerald’s classic with reassuring authenticity and refreshing zest to deliver a thoroughly satisfying, coy murder mystery. F. Scott would approve.”
Booklist

“This novel pays homage to the classic with a fresh point of view that will please Gatsby fans and mystery readers. Both Gigi and the novel are clever and breathe new life into one of the definitive novels of the twentieth century.”
Library Journal

“Featuring much of the glamour and sparkle of Fitzgerald’s original, this reprise of Gatsby’s cautionary tale also revisits the distressing realities behind the glitz. A mystery with a message (and some great jewelry).”
Kirkus Reviews

Author

Claire Anderson-Wheeler is an Irish writer currently based in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband, an artist. She has previously lived in New York, London, Dublin, Brussels, and Geneva. View titles by Claire Anderson Wheeler
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