Press release from Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café:
Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café presents New York Times-bestselling author Karen Abbott and her new book, “The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America,” in a special Speakeasy Event at Little Jumbo cocktail bar, 241 Broadway St., Asheville, NC. Abbott will be in conversation with New York Times-bestselling author Denise Kiernan, whose most recent book is The Last Castle. Seating is limited and participants must register to attend at www.malaprops.com/event. Event registration is free, but anyone who is not already a member at Little Jumbo will need to pay Little Jumbo’s $1.00 membership fee on site.
“The Ghosts of Eden Park” is the epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked the nation. Long before Al Capone became a household name, George Remus quit practicing law and began trafficking whiskey. Within two years he was a multi-millionaire. The press called him “King of the Bootleggers,” writing breathless stories about the Gatsby-esque events he and his second wife, Imogen, hosted at their Cincinnati mansion, with party favors ranging from diamond jewelry for the men to new cars for the women. By the summer of 1921, Remus owned 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States.
Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt was determined to bring Remus down. Willebrandt put her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, on the case. It was a decision with deadly consequences. Remus was imprisoned for violating the Volstead Act. Once her husband was behind bars, Imogen began an affair with Dodge. Together, they plotted to ruin Remus, sparking a bitter feud that reached the highest levels of government and ended in murder.
Combining historical research with novelistic flair, Abbott has created an unforgettable story of a rags-to-riches entrepreneur, a long-forgotten heroine, the excesses of the Jazz Age, and the human capacity to deceive.
Erik Larson, the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of “Dead Wake” and “Devil in the White City,” describes The Ghosts of Eden Park as “Gatsby-era noir at its best, [with] prose so rich and evocative, you feel you’re living the story.” Publishers’ Weekly has selected The “Ghosts of Eden Park” as a Top Fall History title.
Karen Abbott’s previous books include “Sin in the Second City,” “American Rose,” and “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy,” which was named one of the best books of 2014 by Library Journal. A native of Philadelphia, she lives in New York City.
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