“I had barely finished reading the first sentence when a strange thing happened. I’d say the strangest thing happened, if it weren’t that even stranger things were to follow.”

In David Finkle’s mystery novel, The Great Gatsby Murder Case (Plum Bay Publishing, November 15 2024, ISBN: 979-8-9858564-5-3), Daniel Freund indeed proves to have the strangest week of his life after he acquires a curious 1953 edition of The Great Gatsby left on a neighboring stoop. A writer himself, Daniel has been collecting copies of the beloved American tale by F. Scott Fitzgerald for years. 

As he embarks on his annual re-read, however, this proves to be the most interesting read yet and his routine is turned completely upside down. In one magical moment, words begin lifting off the page and he realizes the book is speaking to him—and it’s telling him there’s been a murder that only he has the keys to solve. 

Set in present day New York City, The Great Gatsby Murder Case follows amateur sleuth Daniel Freund and his unlikely allies as he spearheads the journey to discover the truth behind the death of the previous owner of this copy of The Great Gatsby. 

When the words on the page begin to glow and a hand appears out of the pages sending Daniel secret messages, he cannot ignore the urge to discover what is going on. Prompted by The Great Gatsby itself, Daniel begins his own investigation. Accompanied by a hardheaded retired police detective and a nosy-body neighbor, he works to unfold the pieces of this supposedly solved case. He knows a murder took place, the book told him so, so why is everyone else convinced it was suicide?

Teeming with curiosity, adventure, magic, and worries about leaving the case unsolved, The Great Gatsby Murder Case is a clever and humorous piece of magical realism that explores the idea of a murder mystery in a whole new way.

“Finkle’s prose is lean and energetic, and he thankfully wastes little time attempting to establish a sense of verisimilitude.”
–Kirkus Reviews 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Finkle is a New York-based writer who concentrates on politics and the arts. He writes regularly on theater for New York Stage Review. He’s contributed to scores of publications, including The New York Times, The Village Voice, The New York Post, The Nation, The New Yorker, New York, Vogue, Mirabella, Harper’s Bazaar, Psychology Today, Saturday Review and American Theatre. He is on the weekly podcast, The Hour of Lateral Thinking. He is the author of People Tell Me Things, a story collection, The Man With the Overcoat, a novel, Humpty Trumpty Hit a Brick Wall: Donald J. Trump’s First Year in Verse, Great Dates With Some Late Greats, a story collection, and Keys to an Empty House, a novel.

The Great Gatsby Murder Case
By David Finkle
Plum Bay Publishing
Publication Date: November 15, 2024
ISBN: 979-8-9858564-5-3
Original Trade Paperback
Price: $17.99 | Pages: 246