NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The epic true crime story of the most
successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked
the nation, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the
Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
"Gatsby-era noir at its best."--Erik Larson
An ID Book Club Selection - NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST
HISTORY BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SMITHSONIAN
In the early days of Prohibition, long before Al Capone became a
household name, a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing
law and starts trafficking whiskey. Within two years he's a
multi-millionaire. The press calls him King of the Bootleggers, writing
breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his glamorous
second wife, Imogene, host at their Cincinnati mansion, with party
favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to brand-new cars for
the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the
liquor in the United States.
Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring
him down. Willebrandt's bosses at the Justice Department hired her right
out of law school, assuming she'd pose no real threat to the cozy
relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she
dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his
empire. It's a decision with deadly consequences. With the fledgling FBI
on the case, Remus is quickly imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act.
Her husband behind bars, Imogene begins an affair with Dodge. Together,
they plot to ruin Remus, sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the
highest levels of government--and that can only end in murder.
Combining deep historical research with novelistic flair, The Ghosts of
Eden Park is the unforgettable, stranger-than-fiction story of a
rags-to-riches entrepreneur and a long-forgotten heroine, of the
excesses and absurdities of the Jazz Age, and of the infinite human
capacity to deceive.
Praise for The Ghosts of Eden Park
"An exhaustively researched, hugely entertaining work of popular history
that . . . exhumes a colorful crew of once-celebrated characters and
restores them to full-blooded life. . . . [Abbott's] métier is
narrative nonfiction and--as this vibrant, enormously readable book
makes clear--she is one of the masters of the art."--The Wall Street
Journal
"Satisfyingly sensational and thoroughly researched."--The Columbus
Dispatch
"Absorbing . . . a Prohibition-era page-turner."--Chicago Tribune
