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by Jane Stanton Hitchcock

Tonight, my mystery book club at the library where I work discussed Bluff by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. Members of this group are hard core mystery readers and we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t know about this book. Winner of the 2019 Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing and a Publishers Weekly starred review, this book missed our radar.

In 2014, former socialite Maude Warner, who grew up in a wealthy family on the Upper East Side of New York City, walked into the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City and shot Sun Sunderland in front of witnesses and then went on the lam. But was Sun her intended target?

Mad Maude, as some people were calling her, has been stalking Burt Sklar, Sun Sunderson’s business partner, because she blames him for bilking her mother out of her multi-million dollar fortune and leaving Maude and her brother without any money.

When Maude is finally brought into custody, the story really gets interesting because Burt and Sun weren’t the people everyone thought they knew. This book is difficult to review without giving away the plot but an important part of this book is that Maude is a professional poker player and she can Bluff with the best of them.

Everyone in the book discussion loved this book. It has comedic parts, sad parts and great twists. Maude is playing her most important hand and revenge is sweet with this bluffer. We loved it! You can order ir here.