The Girl in the Green Dress by Mariah Fredricks ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

At the dawn of the Jazz Age, Morris Markey arrives in New York to become a writer. Having served in France, he needs to be in a place so distracting he cannot hear himself think. New in town, Markey hovers at the edge of the city’s revels, unable to hear the secrets that might give him his first Big Story. Finally, one night he spots Joseph Elwell, a man about town known for courting wealthy married women, with a glorious girl in a dress of silver and dollar green.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2025; Minotaur Books; 978-1250367518
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); mystery

Mariah Fredricks has published several books, but The Girl in the Green Dress is the first one I've read. (Susan reviewed one of her previous books, The Lindberg Nanny) The story is inspired by true events, but the author takes a lot of creative license as she details in an author's note at the end.

Morris Markey was a journalist in the 1920s, and Joseph Elwell really was killed under mysterious circumstances (it is still an unsolved case). Fredricks imagines what might have happened if Markey had covered the death. I couldn't find any evidence that Markey had covered the death for the Daily News. At the time of his death (by accident, by suicide, by homicide? The coroner's report is inconclusive), a story about Elwell's death was found on his typewriter.

The Girl in the Green Dress is an interesting locked-door mystery. That isn't a typo; it isn't your usual locked-room mystery as possible suspects are not locked in a room together. Instead, the body is found dead behind locked doors that required a key to be locked.

I didn't understand the introduction of the Fitzgeralds. I know there are big fandoms for F. Scott and Zelda, and I kind of wondered if they were included in the story to attract those fans. In real life, they weren't even in New York at the time of the death. As I'm not really a fan of either of them, I didn't really see any reason for them specifically to be included. Fictionalized charismatic characters could have been created for the purpose they served, and I don't think it would have lost anything.

This is not the kind of mystery that is going to cause heart palpitations. I didn't even find it to be a page turner, though each time I sat down to read it, I was quickly drawn into the story. I think this would be great for the casual reader who wants to lose themselves in a story. If you don't have a lot of time to read, this book is easy to pick up and then put down when life calls (there was no "just one more chapter" desire when I read before bed). It is a well-written, solid mystery.

Buy The Girl in the Green Dress at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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