Yes, I went to a book party last week, and I tell you—Thomas Wiggin knows how to party. Big room with chairs set up—check. A showing of a full movie—check. Cookies and popcorn—check. Adult beverages—yeah! Coffee and tea, sure—but choice of wine as well as martinis, both gin and vodka—check! And, icing on the cake—the reading of a scene by the author who made it come alive. (After all, he had a long stint as a starring actor of both daytime and nighttime TV—not to mention writing episodes of the daytime drama, then performing a one-man show he wrote.)
Of course, that’s beside the point. The important part of a book party is the book. And, getting a new slant on the where, why, and how of the author’s inspiration and carry-through of that book.
Thomas Wiggin was inspired by his parents, the Gershwin music they loved, and the Nick and Nora Charles movies of the 1930s. So how did those things all come together?
Mr. Wiggin had an answer for that. In those old movies, Nick and Nora had a son, Nick, Jr. What we didn’t know is that Nick, Jr. was not into the detective scene, but his daughter Emma was. Yes, Emma Charles spent time with her grandparents. She learned to love Gershwin, investigations, and martinis. As the book, The Client’s Wife begins, Emma has left her job with the police department and has begun her own detective agency. All she needs is to find a man who appreciates the finer things of life. Gershwin, good English, and the kind of relationship her grandparents had. (All this, of course, while solving crime cases.)
I’ve only started reading my new, signed copy of The Client’s Wife. It’s heading toward my five-star category.