Dear Great Book Guru, My friends and I had such fun at the Great Gatsby Trivia contest that was the Library’s part of Celebrate Sea Cliff Day. The weather was beautiful, and we were set up outside the Library on Village Green. While we were waiting to begin, one of the library patrons passing by mentioned a mystery based on the Great Gatsby.  I’m intrigued!   Gatsby Obsessive

Dear Gatsby Obsessive, THE GATSBY GAMBIT by Claire Anderson-Wheeler is a wonderful way to experience THE GREAT GATSBY in a totally different way. First, it is a mystery in the manner of Agatha Christie, and the characters from the original novel appear with all their same virtues and vices. The setting too is the same - 1920’s Gold Coast Long Island. The storyline however changes dramatically as we are immediately introduced to a new character – Gatsby’s sister Greta. Six years younger, she is her brother’s ward and is thrilled to be joining him now after graduation.  On the LIRR train ride to Great Neck, she thinks excitedly about all that awaits her, but when she arrives at her brother’s opulent mansion, she is dismayed to find Daisy and Tom living there with Gatsby. Shortly after her arrival, Tom is found dead on Gatsby’s yacht, and it becomes her mission to prove her brother’s innocence. Throughout, we experience the lush, decadent lifestyle of the Gatsby characters from the perspective of this clever young girl.  The fun arises from meeting characters we are very familiar with but in a different plot line with a very different outcome. Having read THE GREAT GATSBY several times as many of you have, it was a treat to celebrate the novel’s 100^th anniversary with this imaginative take on its themes of wealth, power, and greed. Highly recommended!