What do you think?
Rate this book
Bluff
One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once-glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she shoots Sun Sunderland, the "Pope of Finance", as he lunches with "accountant to the stars" Burt Sklar - the man she's accused for years of stealing her mother's fortune and leaving her family in ruins - she deals the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.
Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and uses it. Her fervent passion for poker has taught her that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her. It's uncanny how she reads them.
Her intimates in New York high society believe that "Mad Maud" accidentally missed Sklar, her real target. But nothing is as it first appears as she weathers the unexpected while following her script. And while Maud is on the run, the dark secrets of men who believe their money and power place them above the law will be exposed. Betrayal, larceny, greed, sexual battery, and murder lurk beneath the surface of their glittering lives.
One unexpected twist after another follows as we watch a fierce, unapologetic Maud play the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff. And on who will fold.
Can she win?
Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and uses it. Her fervent passion for poker has taught her that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her. It's uncanny how she reads them.
Her intimates in New York high society believe that "Mad Maud" accidentally missed Sklar, her real target. But nothing is as it first appears as she weathers the unexpected while following her script. And while Maud is on the run, the dark secrets of men who believe their money and power place them above the law will be exposed. Betrayal, larceny, greed, sexual battery, and murder lurk beneath the surface of their glittering lives.
One unexpected twist after another follows as we watch a fierce, unapologetic Maud play the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff. And on who will fold.
Can she win?
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2019
348 people are currently reading
4454 people want to read
About the author
Jane Stanton Hitchcock
14 books222 followersJane Stanton Hitchcock was an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. She wrote several plays but is known mostly for her mystery novels Trick of the Eye, The Witches' Hammer, Social Crimes, One Dangerous Lady, Mortal Friends, and Bluff, which was the winner of the 2019 Hammett Prize. Hitchcock also wrote the screenplays for Our Time and First Love.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
June 22, 2019
Q: Time to get myself captured. (c)
Q: Drastic measures were the only way.... We agreed we had to take these guys down ourselves. It was up to me, the wily poker player, to plan a way to do it. (c)
Q: In other words, it was dueling shrinks at dawn. (c)
A totally unbelievable story of Mad Maud, 'a silent socialite', a heroine, a killer, a poker player.
Q: The improbability of this case on all fronts is mindboggling, starting, of course, with the crime itself… (c)
She blames Sklar Burt. And she has lots of outstanding reasons. (Though blaming her mom who disliked her female kid and seemed to have been horrible with her finances might have been also fitting. Then again, her mom's dead. Due to Burt.)
Burt's an effing joke, what with all his 'truthfully', 'candidly', 'honestly'... Just what the reader needs to remember that people who lie often love overusing these words.
'Galactic betrayals', fraud, revenge, mischief and best-laid plans are lovely plot drivers.
Even though I sort of don't particularly care about poker or socialites or debutantes or most of the heroes and settings, it's still mostly me and my boring pet peeves, not any kind of problem with the book itself.
Q:
Their wasteful lives were both a caution and a source of anger to him. (c) It just feels as if all those people had their whole lives squandered on unimportant things: revenge, fighting between each other, games, bigamy, drugs, all kinds of unsavory stuff. What was all that for? Did it bring any good to any of them? Who would care about all that weird shit? Maybe that was the whole major plot point? I don't know... But it all seems so pointless and wasteful. Maybe I'm too pragmatic or even utilitarian for my own good.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS LURKING AHEAD!
Q:
“You wanna talk about balls? This lady climbed three flights of a rust pile fire escape to play in poker hell with Satan and his crew almost every night of her life. That takes balls. She may be nuts. But she may be smart nuts too. You know all the stuff you have to avoid if you’re planning to kill someone. You gotta think about DNA, cameras, cell phone records, eyewitnesses, getting rid of the body. It’s a lot to plan. No…if you really want to get away with murder these days, do it in plain sight and play crazy. Gonna be hard to prove Grandma Moses wasn’t nuts when she did this thing.” (c)
Q:
The world is nuts, all right, full of people who think they can get away with all kinds of shit.
And do. (c)
Q:
The cards are my dangerous friends. (c)
Q:
Where there’s smoke, there’s fraud. (c)
Q:
... she can’t help wondering if there are places on earth where dinner parties are canceled when the guest of honor gets shot. (c)
Q:
Poker has its own moral universe. Lying is called bluffing. Deception is the norm. I entered that amoral sphere without actually realizing it until it was too late. At first, poker was simply good theatre: Every hand a scene, every player an actor. Time flowed differently at the tables. Playing poker was the only way I was able to forget my problems for long stretches of time. I didn’t understand how profoundly the game was changing me until the change was complete. (c)
Q:
On the Internet I wasn’t Maud Warner, an old bag in curlers and fuzzy slippers sitting in front of my computer with a bag of potato chips and a Coke. On the Internet, I was “BluffaloBill237,” a disaffected, unemployed construction worker, who was mad, bad, and dangerous to play with. I amassed so many fake chips I figured this game was definitely for me. It wasn’t long before I started playing for real money. I was very lucky at first and made enough in cash games and in tournaments to quit my dumb office job and play poker all day. (c)
Q:
All this poor guy knows is that a critically ill patient is asking for his wife, and there seems to be two of them in the waiting room. (c)
Q:
...I was truly happy for the first time in my life. I didn’t think about money!”
“One should always think about money, no matter how happy one is... (c)
Q:
When I first started playing poker, I used to get very upset if I made a bad mistake, or if the cards were cruel and I got beat holding the best hand. I’d go “on tilt” for days blaming myself or fate if I lost. A loss would obsess me and taint the new game I was in until one day I had a simple revelation. There is no point in dwelling on dashed hopes or what might have been. I knew I had to clear my mind, learn from my mistakes, make peace with fate’s little merry pranks, and forge ahead. The great truth of poker—and of life—can be summed up in two words: “Next hand.” ...
When I stopped blaming the cards in poker, I stopped blaming fate in life. When I stopped punishing myself for my mistakes in poker, I stopped punishing myself for past mistakes in life—including the one that has landed me here today in my newfound role as a killer. (c)
Q:
Later I came to realize that one of Sklar’s main talents was convincing people their lives were going to be great. He understood that most people believe what they need to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary. Voicing heartfelt wishes is a tool con men use to jimmie their way into people’s trust. (c)
Q:
People will be rewarded for interrupting their busy lives with a very good show. (c)
Q:
Happy families have individual memories. Unhappy families have collective amnesia. (c)
Q:
... Mummy’s desire to cast herself as a constant victim, to get attention by placing herself at the center of every tragedy, no matter how far removed, turned out to be valuable information for Sklar. I know he filed away that story, along with other things I told him, like a spy amassing a dossier on a country he intended to invade. (c)
Q:
These were the formative events of my mother’s youth, tattooed on her psyche forever, enabling her to elevate victimhood to an art form. (c)
Q:
“Do you have a good lawyer?” Lydia says to Jean.
“Screw lawyers. I need a cartel killer.” (c)
Q:
“The most interesting thing about this woman…? She plays poker.” (c)
Q:
I may be able to tell her the truth one day, if the two of us wind up together in some old age home, reminiscing in our rockers. But for now, she has to believe I’m off my rocker. (c)
Q:
She proceeds to recap the whole Sunderland bigamy saga, and how Jean Sunderland has become Burt Sklar’s latest financial victim in a scheme reminiscent of the one he used on my mother. I know all the things she’s telling me, and a great deal more. (c)
Q:
My harmless guilty pleasure in tracking him amped up into an obsession. I was attracted to the thing I most despised, which made me very dangerous. (c)
Q:
It was all I could do to keep a straight face. (c)
Q:
That night, I cried more than I’d ever cried in my whole entire life. So many things made sense now. By morning, I’d managed to regain my equilibrium. I was cool and focused, with the strategic mindset of a poker player about to enter a big tournament. (c)
Q:
Collusion at the poker table is very difficult to spot if the colluders are clever. Their covert signs and signals are invisible to the untrained eye. The main thing to watch out for is any sign the players know one another. It’s vital that colluders never reveal they are friends so the fish will not suspect he or she is being targeted. (c)
Q:
... I outlined my plan of revenge. I didn’t give them specifics. But I did tell them it would involve violence. They both agreed and consented. (c)
Q:
I made it clear that once my plan was in motion, I’d never be able to contact either one of them again. It was absolutely vital that no one suspect we were all in on this together. (c)
Q:
I said the magic words: “Don’t fold.” (c)
Q:
He knows he’s a great salesman. So why couldn’t he sell himself to the love of his life? (c)
Q:
His father always told him that politics makes strange bedfellows. But in this case, these bedfellows make even stranger politics. (c)
Q:
Packer thinks this revelation belongs squarely in The Land of Daytime Television. But the fact that Danya, the bigamous Mrs. Sunderland, is being wholeheartedly supported in her claim by Jean, the legitimate Mrs. Sunderland, is what catapults this astounding confession into the realm of the Planet Surreal. (c)
Q:
I find this odd, given the way I was brought up—going to church, obeying rules, curtsying to everyone in sight, and all that sort of thing. I keep waiting to feel a debilitating gash in my psyche, but so far, I’m cool with it. (c)
Q:
I have to wonder if long exposure to Sklar had somehow acted as a catalyst for the dormant sociopath in me—much like exposure to a carcinogen suddenly causes cancer in people who are genetically predisposed.
Or did the game of poker embolden me? Poker is mental war. You must be willing to die in order to win. I’ve been on the front lines for years playing against my “enemies” in tournaments, living and dying on a regular basis at the tables. Did poker somehow inspire me to war against my enemies in real life? I wonder… (c)
Q:
I confess I don’t recognize my face in the mirror anymore—and it’s not just because I’m older. It’s because I’m not the person I once thought I was, or would ever be. (c)
Q:
“You are your own worst enemy—in poker and in life.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that if you don’t know yourself very well, you’ll always lose. Believe it or not, that is the single most valuable lesson I ever learned from poker.”...
If the cards have taught me anything, they’ve taught me this: No matter what kind of hand we’re dealt in the beginning of our lives, who we become depends on heart, guile, and a little luck. ...
If I’ve learned one thing in poker and in life, it is: Never underestimate your opponent. (c) She must have gotten a helluva lot of lessons from poker. More than some get from some unis.
Q:
However, finding a jury of my “peers” is going to be a challenge. I’d say I’m relatively peerless when it comes to the highs and lows of life. (c)
Q:
I’ve lived it all from the top down, and now from the bottom up. (c)
Q:
I wish I could explain to them that too much money can be as damaging as too little; that neurosis, dysfunction, and addiction can flourish just as easily in wealthy homes as in poor ones; that money is a matter of luck, and class is a matter of character. (c)
Q:
When you bluff in poker, you’re essentially telling a story that you hope your opponent will believe so that he or she will fold their hand. You have to make your story convincing, or else your opponent will call you and you’ll be out. (c)
Q:
If you bluff you can’t falter. You must tell a story your opponent can believe and make him believe it. It an odd way, you must believe the story yourself. And you can only do that if you believe in yourself. (c)
Q:
People don’t like their preconceptions challenged and that’s what I’m banking on here. (c)
Q:
Eyes out on stalks, all she can say is, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
Not kidding, I say to myself.
Bluffing. (c)
Q:
And, candidly, honestly, truthfully,” I say, echoing Sklar just for fun, “I don’t remember a damn thing after that.” (c)
Q:
My invisibility makes me invincible. (c)
Q:
I took all the facts and twisted them around to suit my story. (c)
Q:
Sex and money, the dynamic duo ... (c)
Q:
Let’s face it, it gives a girl a lift to wear nice clothes, no matter what the circumstances. (c)
Q:
A murder trial makes a nice change from the hurly burly of feeding the overstuffed. (c)
Q:
“No! No! NO! What gun? What contract? What defense? What the FUCK!?”
His head snaps around. He glares at me with an expression I once saw in a horror movie where this guy’s prom date morphed into a life-size insect just as he was about to kiss her. (c) I love it.
Q:
The bluff was my specialty, in poker and in life. But then, all poker players lie—just to keep in practice. (c)
Q:
The Internet is Santa now. Click and get. Who knows? Maybe there will be reindeer drones one day. (c)
Q:
You need luck and a lion’s courage to win that tournament. You also need to be great at bluffing. If you bluff, you can’t falter. You must tell a story your opponent can believe, and make him believe it. In an odd way, you must believe the story yourself. And you can only do that if you believe in yourself.
... who knows? With a lot of bluff and a little luck, I might win. (c)
And a lovely afterword:
Q:
Fiction is the greatest bluff there is. Writers are abetted by imagination, our own, and that of the reader. Imagination is the most powerful deck of cards the universe. It has no limits.
If you are reading this, it means you have played the entire hand with me. If you have enjoyed the book, I thank you as a writer and a poker player. If not, I can only say: Next book, next hand. (c)
Q: Drastic measures were the only way.... We agreed we had to take these guys down ourselves. It was up to me, the wily poker player, to plan a way to do it. (c)
Q: In other words, it was dueling shrinks at dawn. (c)
A totally unbelievable story of Mad Maud, 'a silent socialite', a heroine, a killer, a poker player.
Q: The improbability of this case on all fronts is mindboggling, starting, of course, with the crime itself… (c)
She blames Sklar Burt. And she has lots of outstanding reasons. (Though blaming her mom who disliked her female kid and seemed to have been horrible with her finances might have been also fitting. Then again, her mom's dead. Due to Burt.)
Burt's an effing joke, what with all his 'truthfully', 'candidly', 'honestly'... Just what the reader needs to remember that people who lie often love overusing these words.
'Galactic betrayals', fraud, revenge, mischief and best-laid plans are lovely plot drivers.
Even though I sort of don't particularly care about poker or socialites or debutantes or most of the heroes and settings, it's still mostly me and my boring pet peeves, not any kind of problem with the book itself.
Q:
Their wasteful lives were both a caution and a source of anger to him. (c) It just feels as if all those people had their whole lives squandered on unimportant things: revenge, fighting between each other, games, bigamy, drugs, all kinds of unsavory stuff. What was all that for? Did it bring any good to any of them? Who would care about all that weird shit? Maybe that was the whole major plot point? I don't know... But it all seems so pointless and wasteful. Maybe I'm too pragmatic or even utilitarian for my own good.
BEWARE OF SPOILERS LURKING AHEAD!
Q:
“You wanna talk about balls? This lady climbed three flights of a rust pile fire escape to play in poker hell with Satan and his crew almost every night of her life. That takes balls. She may be nuts. But she may be smart nuts too. You know all the stuff you have to avoid if you’re planning to kill someone. You gotta think about DNA, cameras, cell phone records, eyewitnesses, getting rid of the body. It’s a lot to plan. No…if you really want to get away with murder these days, do it in plain sight and play crazy. Gonna be hard to prove Grandma Moses wasn’t nuts when she did this thing.” (c)
Q:
The world is nuts, all right, full of people who think they can get away with all kinds of shit.
And do. (c)
Q:
The cards are my dangerous friends. (c)
Q:
Where there’s smoke, there’s fraud. (c)
Q:
... she can’t help wondering if there are places on earth where dinner parties are canceled when the guest of honor gets shot. (c)
Q:
Poker has its own moral universe. Lying is called bluffing. Deception is the norm. I entered that amoral sphere without actually realizing it until it was too late. At first, poker was simply good theatre: Every hand a scene, every player an actor. Time flowed differently at the tables. Playing poker was the only way I was able to forget my problems for long stretches of time. I didn’t understand how profoundly the game was changing me until the change was complete. (c)
Q:
On the Internet I wasn’t Maud Warner, an old bag in curlers and fuzzy slippers sitting in front of my computer with a bag of potato chips and a Coke. On the Internet, I was “BluffaloBill237,” a disaffected, unemployed construction worker, who was mad, bad, and dangerous to play with. I amassed so many fake chips I figured this game was definitely for me. It wasn’t long before I started playing for real money. I was very lucky at first and made enough in cash games and in tournaments to quit my dumb office job and play poker all day. (c)
Q:
All this poor guy knows is that a critically ill patient is asking for his wife, and there seems to be two of them in the waiting room. (c)
Q:
...I was truly happy for the first time in my life. I didn’t think about money!”
“One should always think about money, no matter how happy one is... (c)
Q:
When I first started playing poker, I used to get very upset if I made a bad mistake, or if the cards were cruel and I got beat holding the best hand. I’d go “on tilt” for days blaming myself or fate if I lost. A loss would obsess me and taint the new game I was in until one day I had a simple revelation. There is no point in dwelling on dashed hopes or what might have been. I knew I had to clear my mind, learn from my mistakes, make peace with fate’s little merry pranks, and forge ahead. The great truth of poker—and of life—can be summed up in two words: “Next hand.” ...
When I stopped blaming the cards in poker, I stopped blaming fate in life. When I stopped punishing myself for my mistakes in poker, I stopped punishing myself for past mistakes in life—including the one that has landed me here today in my newfound role as a killer. (c)
Q:
Later I came to realize that one of Sklar’s main talents was convincing people their lives were going to be great. He understood that most people believe what they need to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary. Voicing heartfelt wishes is a tool con men use to jimmie their way into people’s trust. (c)
Q:
People will be rewarded for interrupting their busy lives with a very good show. (c)
Q:
Happy families have individual memories. Unhappy families have collective amnesia. (c)
Q:
... Mummy’s desire to cast herself as a constant victim, to get attention by placing herself at the center of every tragedy, no matter how far removed, turned out to be valuable information for Sklar. I know he filed away that story, along with other things I told him, like a spy amassing a dossier on a country he intended to invade. (c)
Q:
These were the formative events of my mother’s youth, tattooed on her psyche forever, enabling her to elevate victimhood to an art form. (c)
Q:
“Do you have a good lawyer?” Lydia says to Jean.
“Screw lawyers. I need a cartel killer.” (c)
Q:
“The most interesting thing about this woman…? She plays poker.” (c)
Q:
I may be able to tell her the truth one day, if the two of us wind up together in some old age home, reminiscing in our rockers. But for now, she has to believe I’m off my rocker. (c)
Q:
She proceeds to recap the whole Sunderland bigamy saga, and how Jean Sunderland has become Burt Sklar’s latest financial victim in a scheme reminiscent of the one he used on my mother. I know all the things she’s telling me, and a great deal more. (c)
Q:
My harmless guilty pleasure in tracking him amped up into an obsession. I was attracted to the thing I most despised, which made me very dangerous. (c)
Q:
It was all I could do to keep a straight face. (c)
Q:
That night, I cried more than I’d ever cried in my whole entire life. So many things made sense now. By morning, I’d managed to regain my equilibrium. I was cool and focused, with the strategic mindset of a poker player about to enter a big tournament. (c)
Q:
Collusion at the poker table is very difficult to spot if the colluders are clever. Their covert signs and signals are invisible to the untrained eye. The main thing to watch out for is any sign the players know one another. It’s vital that colluders never reveal they are friends so the fish will not suspect he or she is being targeted. (c)
Q:
... I outlined my plan of revenge. I didn’t give them specifics. But I did tell them it would involve violence. They both agreed and consented. (c)
Q:
I made it clear that once my plan was in motion, I’d never be able to contact either one of them again. It was absolutely vital that no one suspect we were all in on this together. (c)
Q:
I said the magic words: “Don’t fold.” (c)
Q:
He knows he’s a great salesman. So why couldn’t he sell himself to the love of his life? (c)
Q:
His father always told him that politics makes strange bedfellows. But in this case, these bedfellows make even stranger politics. (c)
Q:
Packer thinks this revelation belongs squarely in The Land of Daytime Television. But the fact that Danya, the bigamous Mrs. Sunderland, is being wholeheartedly supported in her claim by Jean, the legitimate Mrs. Sunderland, is what catapults this astounding confession into the realm of the Planet Surreal. (c)
Q:
I find this odd, given the way I was brought up—going to church, obeying rules, curtsying to everyone in sight, and all that sort of thing. I keep waiting to feel a debilitating gash in my psyche, but so far, I’m cool with it. (c)
Q:
I have to wonder if long exposure to Sklar had somehow acted as a catalyst for the dormant sociopath in me—much like exposure to a carcinogen suddenly causes cancer in people who are genetically predisposed.
Or did the game of poker embolden me? Poker is mental war. You must be willing to die in order to win. I’ve been on the front lines for years playing against my “enemies” in tournaments, living and dying on a regular basis at the tables. Did poker somehow inspire me to war against my enemies in real life? I wonder… (c)
Q:
I confess I don’t recognize my face in the mirror anymore—and it’s not just because I’m older. It’s because I’m not the person I once thought I was, or would ever be. (c)
Q:
“You are your own worst enemy—in poker and in life.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that if you don’t know yourself very well, you’ll always lose. Believe it or not, that is the single most valuable lesson I ever learned from poker.”...
If the cards have taught me anything, they’ve taught me this: No matter what kind of hand we’re dealt in the beginning of our lives, who we become depends on heart, guile, and a little luck. ...
If I’ve learned one thing in poker and in life, it is: Never underestimate your opponent. (c) She must have gotten a helluva lot of lessons from poker. More than some get from some unis.
Q:
However, finding a jury of my “peers” is going to be a challenge. I’d say I’m relatively peerless when it comes to the highs and lows of life. (c)
Q:
I’ve lived it all from the top down, and now from the bottom up. (c)
Q:
I wish I could explain to them that too much money can be as damaging as too little; that neurosis, dysfunction, and addiction can flourish just as easily in wealthy homes as in poor ones; that money is a matter of luck, and class is a matter of character. (c)
Q:
When you bluff in poker, you’re essentially telling a story that you hope your opponent will believe so that he or she will fold their hand. You have to make your story convincing, or else your opponent will call you and you’ll be out. (c)
Q:
If you bluff you can’t falter. You must tell a story your opponent can believe and make him believe it. It an odd way, you must believe the story yourself. And you can only do that if you believe in yourself. (c)
Q:
People don’t like their preconceptions challenged and that’s what I’m banking on here. (c)
Q:
Eyes out on stalks, all she can say is, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
Not kidding, I say to myself.
Bluffing. (c)
Q:
And, candidly, honestly, truthfully,” I say, echoing Sklar just for fun, “I don’t remember a damn thing after that.” (c)
Q:
My invisibility makes me invincible. (c)
Q:
I took all the facts and twisted them around to suit my story. (c)
Q:
Sex and money, the dynamic duo ... (c)
Q:
Let’s face it, it gives a girl a lift to wear nice clothes, no matter what the circumstances. (c)
Q:
A murder trial makes a nice change from the hurly burly of feeding the overstuffed. (c)
Q:
“No! No! NO! What gun? What contract? What defense? What the FUCK!?”
His head snaps around. He glares at me with an expression I once saw in a horror movie where this guy’s prom date morphed into a life-size insect just as he was about to kiss her. (c) I love it.
Q:
The bluff was my specialty, in poker and in life. But then, all poker players lie—just to keep in practice. (c)
Q:
The Internet is Santa now. Click and get. Who knows? Maybe there will be reindeer drones one day. (c)
Q:
You need luck and a lion’s courage to win that tournament. You also need to be great at bluffing. If you bluff, you can’t falter. You must tell a story your opponent can believe, and make him believe it. In an odd way, you must believe the story yourself. And you can only do that if you believe in yourself.
... who knows? With a lot of bluff and a little luck, I might win. (c)
And a lovely afterword:
Q:
Fiction is the greatest bluff there is. Writers are abetted by imagination, our own, and that of the reader. Imagination is the most powerful deck of cards the universe. It has no limits.
If you are reading this, it means you have played the entire hand with me. If you have enjoyed the book, I thank you as a writer and a poker player. If not, I can only say: Next book, next hand. (c)
June 29, 2020
Know When to Hold Them...
Maud is not a fold ‘em type of woman.
Beyond standing pat, she’s out for revenge and has staked her claim by calmly shooting one of Manhattan’s power elite during a busy lunch at a swanky club. A chain of events is set off.
But, she shot the wrong man. Or, did she?
Is she bluffing and will anyone call her out if she is?
A raucous romp into New York high society, it’s semi dark with humor used as frosting to temper the bitterness underneath. Societal commentary woven into the book’s fabric is at times sly, others cutting. At the forefront is a love of Poker, something I can relate to.
I love a good payback story and would have given this five stars except that a pet cat is deliberately poisoned and dies.
Thank you to Dita for putting Bluff on my radar.
Maud is not a fold ‘em type of woman.
Beyond standing pat, she’s out for revenge and has staked her claim by calmly shooting one of Manhattan’s power elite during a busy lunch at a swanky club. A chain of events is set off.
But, she shot the wrong man. Or, did she?
Is she bluffing and will anyone call her out if she is?
A raucous romp into New York high society, it’s semi dark with humor used as frosting to temper the bitterness underneath. Societal commentary woven into the book’s fabric is at times sly, others cutting. At the forefront is a love of Poker, something I can relate to.
I love a good payback story and would have given this five stars except that a pet cat is deliberately poisoned and dies.
Thank you to Dita for putting Bluff on my radar.
November 15, 2018
This book has one of the more memorable opening scenes I've read this year. Maud Warner, a 50+ year old socialite walks into the Four Seasons restaurant in NYC and shoots a man named Sun Sutherland. She then proceeds to walk out calmly and ends up boarding a train headed to Washington D.C. But why did she shoot Sun instead of the man he was lunching with, Burt Sklar, the person she blames for losing her family's fortune?
I think the real strength of the book is the writing style. It's quirky and had a bit of an old school vibe to it where nothing is as it seems and even though a crime is committed you aren't expected to take it too seriously. I feel like the style was a breath of fresh air and not something you really get to see much in today's books. I did think the first half of the book was stronger than the second. I probably would have enjoyed this one a tad more if it was written as a novella rather than a full length novel. Overall, a decent read and I recommend checking this one out if you are in the mood for something a bit different.
Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for sending me a free advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.
I think the real strength of the book is the writing style. It's quirky and had a bit of an old school vibe to it where nothing is as it seems and even though a crime is committed you aren't expected to take it too seriously. I feel like the style was a breath of fresh air and not something you really get to see much in today's books. I did think the first half of the book was stronger than the second. I probably would have enjoyed this one a tad more if it was written as a novella rather than a full length novel. Overall, a decent read and I recommend checking this one out if you are in the mood for something a bit different.
Thank you to the publisher and BookishFirst for sending me a free advance digital copy! I was under no obligation to post a review and all views expressed are my honest opinion.
February 5, 2021
In this fast paced novel, a smart, confident and capable woman seeks revenge against a slick, fast-talking con man who had swindled her family out of all of their money.
Full of unexpected twists and turns as well as a host of interesting and colorful characters, this is an addicting novel!
Full of unexpected twists and turns as well as a host of interesting and colorful characters, this is an addicting novel!
October 8, 2019
“I’m now playing the biggest poker hand of my life with no cards.”
Bluff is an entertaining and fun read! I don’t usually read mysteries but the outstanding cover grabbed my attention and piqued my curiosity. And I am glad it did. Bluff is a fine read which will keep you guessing and wondering, perfect for the beach or a rainy day at home.
Bluff is a somewhat atypical mystery in that the murder occurs in the opening pages and the novel is devoted to Why it happened. This does not diminish the book’s entertainment value at all. In Hitchcock’s capable hands, knowing the outcome does not detract from the suspense of discovering and understanding the Why.
Maud Warner, the protagonist, is a 56 year old socialite who was cheated out of her mother’s inheritance by an overly zealous, greedy and immoral accountant named Burt Sklar. The reader will come to despise Sklar nearly as much as Maud does as well as admire the clever Maud while rooting for her to succeed.
The book begins with a great sentence - “Death is colorful in the fall,” which for me, sets up an imaginative mystery. We meet Maud as she its heading over to The Four Seasons in NYC. At the restaurant, she tells the maitre d’ that she is meeting Burt Sklar, who is dining with Sun Sunderland. The maitre d’ leads her to their table and, while standing behind him, Maude pulls a gun out of her purse and shoots at Sklar and Sunderland. Who was she aiming for? She then walks out of the restaurant and goes to Penn Station where she grabs an Amtrak train back to her home in Washington D.C.
As it turns out, Maud killed Mr. Sunderland and this raises a number of questions for the reader — What was Maud’s relationship to Sunderland and why would she want him dead? Was the bullet meant for Sklar? Clearly there was motive with Sklar but what was the motive for killing Sunderland? Was Maud a poor shot or unfamiliar with guns and how to use them? Did Maud have a psychotic break with reality that caused her to act this way? Could it be something else entirely? Well, you will have to read the book to find out why Maud did it and what ultimately happens to her.
Hitchcock is brilliant at creating the overarching analogy between life and the game of poker. In fact, Maud has learned important life lessons from poker.
“The great truth of poker—and of life—can be summed up in two words: ‘Next hand’.”
“I lied, of course. The bluff was my specialty, in poker and in life. But then, all poker players lie—just to keep in practice.”
“Convincing bluffing is the real key to a successful poker career. And like pretty much everything in life, poker is about people. You have to know when and whom to bluff.’
Hitchcock’s writing is user-friendly and the book flows well. It is hard to put down because of its intricately woven plot and desire to know the Why.
I liked Hitchcock’s writing and in particular, the amusing lines narrated by Maud. Hitchcock excels at turning a phrase and comic timing in her writing. She takes familiar phrases and re-invents them and uses certain words in an entirely new context, where you would least expect to find them.
“My parents had many famous friends. Their glamorous parties were so packed with celebrities, I used to refer to myself as ‘the only person there I didn’t know’.”
"Greta knows that great hostesses have to be vampires, ever in search of new blood to keep their parties lively.”
“Although, as a once-great beauty, she considered aging to be the ultimate terrorist attack.”
“When I met Burt Sklar, our family was misery on a stick, ready to be gobbled up by a hungry predator.”
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
Bluff is an entertaining and fun read! I don’t usually read mysteries but the outstanding cover grabbed my attention and piqued my curiosity. And I am glad it did. Bluff is a fine read which will keep you guessing and wondering, perfect for the beach or a rainy day at home.
Bluff is a somewhat atypical mystery in that the murder occurs in the opening pages and the novel is devoted to Why it happened. This does not diminish the book’s entertainment value at all. In Hitchcock’s capable hands, knowing the outcome does not detract from the suspense of discovering and understanding the Why.
Maud Warner, the protagonist, is a 56 year old socialite who was cheated out of her mother’s inheritance by an overly zealous, greedy and immoral accountant named Burt Sklar. The reader will come to despise Sklar nearly as much as Maud does as well as admire the clever Maud while rooting for her to succeed.
The book begins with a great sentence - “Death is colorful in the fall,” which for me, sets up an imaginative mystery. We meet Maud as she its heading over to The Four Seasons in NYC. At the restaurant, she tells the maitre d’ that she is meeting Burt Sklar, who is dining with Sun Sunderland. The maitre d’ leads her to their table and, while standing behind him, Maude pulls a gun out of her purse and shoots at Sklar and Sunderland. Who was she aiming for? She then walks out of the restaurant and goes to Penn Station where she grabs an Amtrak train back to her home in Washington D.C.
As it turns out, Maud killed Mr. Sunderland and this raises a number of questions for the reader — What was Maud’s relationship to Sunderland and why would she want him dead? Was the bullet meant for Sklar? Clearly there was motive with Sklar but what was the motive for killing Sunderland? Was Maud a poor shot or unfamiliar with guns and how to use them? Did Maud have a psychotic break with reality that caused her to act this way? Could it be something else entirely? Well, you will have to read the book to find out why Maud did it and what ultimately happens to her.
Hitchcock is brilliant at creating the overarching analogy between life and the game of poker. In fact, Maud has learned important life lessons from poker.
“The great truth of poker—and of life—can be summed up in two words: ‘Next hand’.”
“I lied, of course. The bluff was my specialty, in poker and in life. But then, all poker players lie—just to keep in practice.”
“Convincing bluffing is the real key to a successful poker career. And like pretty much everything in life, poker is about people. You have to know when and whom to bluff.’
Hitchcock’s writing is user-friendly and the book flows well. It is hard to put down because of its intricately woven plot and desire to know the Why.
I liked Hitchcock’s writing and in particular, the amusing lines narrated by Maud. Hitchcock excels at turning a phrase and comic timing in her writing. She takes familiar phrases and re-invents them and uses certain words in an entirely new context, where you would least expect to find them.
“My parents had many famous friends. Their glamorous parties were so packed with celebrities, I used to refer to myself as ‘the only person there I didn’t know’.”
"Greta knows that great hostesses have to be vampires, ever in search of new blood to keep their parties lively.”
“Although, as a once-great beauty, she considered aging to be the ultimate terrorist attack.”
“When I met Burt Sklar, our family was misery on a stick, ready to be gobbled up by a hungry predator.”
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
November 14, 2018
This totally reads like badass women's fiction at its best. This time about an ex-socialite gone poor and on revenge. Fantastic book!
I just read this second paragraph in the book and knew I will absolutely love her:
I whisk a comb through my bobbed graying hair and apply a little lip gloss to my lightly made-up face. It's not an unattractive face, just an older one, silted with apprehension. I'm satisfied I look like what I'm supposed to be: a middle-aged lady of means with a conservative sense of style. I re-check the contents in my faux Birkin bag to make sure I have everything I need. It's all there: wallet, glasses, compact, lipstick, comb, cell phone, gun.
Know what I mean? Does it get any better when it comes to a heroine's description?
I'm not giving away any spoilers, but I will say this. I was so intrigued by this writer, and especially, of course, her last name, that after reading it I Googled her and, well, most of her Wikipedia page sounds much like the synopsis of this book. A possible half-true story here? I'm just saying...
Loved it!
Thank you NetGelly for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.
I just read this second paragraph in the book and knew I will absolutely love her:
I whisk a comb through my bobbed graying hair and apply a little lip gloss to my lightly made-up face. It's not an unattractive face, just an older one, silted with apprehension. I'm satisfied I look like what I'm supposed to be: a middle-aged lady of means with a conservative sense of style. I re-check the contents in my faux Birkin bag to make sure I have everything I need. It's all there: wallet, glasses, compact, lipstick, comb, cell phone, gun.
Know what I mean? Does it get any better when it comes to a heroine's description?
I'm not giving away any spoilers, but I will say this. I was so intrigued by this writer, and especially, of course, her last name, that after reading it I Googled her and, well, most of her Wikipedia page sounds much like the synopsis of this book. A possible half-true story here? I'm just saying...
Loved it!
Thank you NetGelly for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.
May 17, 2021
I loooooooved this. I think it was so good to me because for once, I went in blind, I didn't look it up on GR, study 20 reviews before I started it. I love revenge stories if they're fast paced and this one had a great pace throughout. The way the author let the story unfold was superb- that's a key part for me-the author's ability to let things out at the right time w out letting the story drag and without piling on a bunch of too much nonsense. I loved that the key players in this were older ladies, there's not enough good suspense novels that portray older people as this one did. Some people might not like the perfect ending, seeing it as too neatly or unrealistically wrapped up, and normally I wouldn't either, but this time it worked for me! I listened to this as an Audible plus freebie so that's an added bonus, the narration was very good however, there were a couple characters I had trouble telling apart. This was totally worth a listen! I think in the future I might not fill my mind with so many reviews before I dive in, I think it may be hindering my selection process, I'll always look up books through GR but I'm not always going to sift through tons of reviews before I read/ listen to something from now on. Maybe I'll find more books that I enjoy as much as this. Hopefully, others will enjoy this great twisty, revenge story too!
April 14, 2019
I thought "Bluff" by Jane Stanton Hitchcock was a fun, comedic read, one that I enjoyed very much. The book focuses on Maud Warner, a 56-year-old woman, set to exact her revenge on what she perceives as wrongdoing against her mother. Her intended victim? Burt Sklar. However, she misses and ends up shooting Sun Sunderland. Was it by accident? On purpose?
I thought the characters were well-written and genuine people, people I would want to be friends with. That and the writing style is a real strength of the novel. I found myself flipping through the pages to see what was going to happen next. The beginning had one of the more memorable scenes I've read lately and while I found the middle slightly lagging, I enjoyed the book overall.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read an ARC.
I thought the characters were well-written and genuine people, people I would want to be friends with. That and the writing style is a real strength of the novel. I found myself flipping through the pages to see what was going to happen next. The beginning had one of the more memorable scenes I've read lately and while I found the middle slightly lagging, I enjoyed the book overall.
Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read an ARC.
January 11, 2019
I liked Bluff. It's a fun read. The heroine is a fifty something woman, which I find refreshing as characters go. She's likeable. The plot is complex and unpredictable. A great ending and entertaining throughout. I recommend this one.
April 7, 2019
It was fun , but required some a lot of suspension of disbelief. I think everything I've been reading lately has had some twisty, "but wait...there's more" turns, so that prob made it less something or other for me.
November 26, 2020
I loved this book featuring a mid-50s prior debutante turned poker player. As Maud Warner says, bluffing is the key to winning in poker and in life. In the story, she shoots and kills a man named Sunderland, known as the "Pope of Finance" in New York. Turns out, he was a bigamist and had written his wife out of his will without her knowing it. With him at the time was a man named Sklar, who is also very powerful and has unrequited love for a woman in DC, even though he's already married. Sklar also hurt Maud's mother earlier, so Maud has a score to settle.
This book has a lot of twists and turns, but I just love the female protagonist.
This book has a lot of twists and turns, but I just love the female protagonist.
March 25, 2019
High marks for the cover! This quirky mystery has some very unexpected twists and turns. The main character is an aging socialite named Maud Warner. When Maud's family realizes they have been swindled out of their money by a trusted family friend, it is too late. Tragedy ensues and Maud decides to make is right by shooting the culprit while he is eating lunch at the Four Seasons. Can Maud bluff her way out of a murder charge?
A big thank you to Poison Pen Press, Bookish First and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this intriguing mystery.
A big thank you to Poison Pen Press, Bookish First and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this intriguing mystery.
October 26, 2024
This was an unexpected and great read.
I found this on my library's website when I was looking for a new audio book for my daily commute to work and this one was immediately available. It sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a go.
In the beginning this book absolutely infuriated me because it is about men who are total and complete f*cking @$$holes to the multiple women they believe they can take advantage of with impunity. There were multiple points in the early chapters where I wanted desperately to pound the faces of the two main male characters in this story. But wait!
Then we realize that the women in the story are - as is so often the case - WAAAYYYY smarter and savvier than the men can even conceive of them being and that this is going to be a much more satisfying story than we are originally led to believe, and from that point this is a hugely clever and cackle-inducing read.
The twist in the story is pretty obvious, because even I - who never even TRY to figure out what's really going on - knew very early on how this story was likely going to play out and I was right. That said, knowing what was going to happen did not diminish my enjoyment of the story AT ALL. If anything, knowing how it was probably going to end actually added to my delight in watching the women whom everyone underestimated and dismissed brilliantly and sneakily kick clueless male @$$ without anyone even realizing it was happening.
This was just so much fun and I enjoyed every moment of it! Highly recommended if you like watching women deliver ultimate payback to sh*tty men without them even realizing it's happening until it's WAY TOO LATE!
I found this on my library's website when I was looking for a new audio book for my daily commute to work and this one was immediately available. It sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a go.
In the beginning this book absolutely infuriated me because it is about men who are total and complete f*cking @$$holes to the multiple women they believe they can take advantage of with impunity. There were multiple points in the early chapters where I wanted desperately to pound the faces of the two main male characters in this story. But wait!
Then we realize that the women in the story are - as is so often the case - WAAAYYYY smarter and savvier than the men can even conceive of them being and that this is going to be a much more satisfying story than we are originally led to believe, and from that point this is a hugely clever and cackle-inducing read.
The twist in the story is pretty obvious, because even I - who never even TRY to figure out what's really going on - knew very early on how this story was likely going to play out and I was right. That said, knowing what was going to happen did not diminish my enjoyment of the story AT ALL. If anything, knowing how it was probably going to end actually added to my delight in watching the women whom everyone underestimated and dismissed brilliantly and sneakily kick clueless male @$$ without anyone even realizing it was happening.
This was just so much fun and I enjoyed every moment of it! Highly recommended if you like watching women deliver ultimate payback to sh*tty men without them even realizing it's happening until it's WAY TOO LATE!
June 29, 2019
3.5*'s
I used to play a lot of poker before the US crackdown and it brought back memories. The rest of the story was good and well executed. I liked the characters.
I used to play a lot of poker before the US crackdown and it brought back memories. The rest of the story was good and well executed. I liked the characters.
December 1, 2018
I did not think I could be won over for a story following the privileged rich. While I realized the writing was great from the get-go, the name dropping name brand fashion blah blah in the beginning had me thinking I was right - this wasn't going to work for me.
And then the one line right before the shooting...And then the wife...The run...The dinner.
Once I got a little farther than the Bookish First Impression preview, I couldn't put it down. When I had to put it down, I kept thinking about it. II was itching to get back to it. I flew through the last half of the book in one sitting staying up late to finish it.
Loved it. All the characters, the descriptions, the plot, just all of it. Besides the name dropping beginning that does lay the foundation but comes off pretentious and blasé.
It may take a little while to get into, but when it starts poppin, it doesn't stop. Now I can easily recommend Bluff to anyone, especially if you want a twisty revenge tale.
Bluff is First Wives Club meets Ocean's 8.
And then the one line right before the shooting...And then the wife...The run...The dinner.
Once I got a little farther than the Bookish First Impression preview, I couldn't put it down. When I had to put it down, I kept thinking about it. II was itching to get back to it. I flew through the last half of the book in one sitting staying up late to finish it.
Loved it. All the characters, the descriptions, the plot, just all of it. Besides the name dropping beginning that does lay the foundation but comes off pretentious and blasé.
It may take a little while to get into, but when it starts poppin, it doesn't stop. Now I can easily recommend Bluff to anyone, especially if you want a twisty revenge tale.
Bluff is First Wives Club meets Ocean's 8.
Read
April 10, 2019The author may not be related to another famous master of mystery with the same last name, but her witty book could easily fit in with those great films! Maud Warner, a former New York socialite, now fallen on hard financial times, loves the game of poker and uses her appearance as an older, clueless woman to great advantage in the high stakes games she plays. The stakes could not be higher, however, when Maude walks into the famous Four Seasons restaurant, shoots the man she hates and promptly disappears. Could the crime be exactly what it seems, or is this part of an elaborate bluff? Give this great book a read and find out! – Louisa A.
December 7, 2018
A well-paced and well-written story: money, poker, a murder attempt and an obsessed heroine. Not everything is as it seems. A good thriller to keep you puzzling right to the very end.
December 1, 2018
Omg this book is so FUN! Gossip, socialites, poker, long-held grudges, murder, appearances for appearance's sake, and long cons, OH MY! This book was everything I love. Badass ladies killing assholes and people talking shit about other people. What more could you want? Let's get to the review.
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she shoots Sun Sunderland, the "Pope of Finance," as he lunches with "accountant to the stars" Burt Sklar - the man she's accused for years of stealing her mother's fortune and leaving her family in ruins - she deals the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.
Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and uses it. Her fervent passion for poker has taught her that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her. It's uncanny how she reads them.
Her intimates in New York high society believe that "Mad Maud" accidentally missed Sklar, her real target. But nothing is as it first appears as she weathers the unexpected while following her script. And while Maud is on the run, the dark secrets of men who believe their money and power place them above the law will be exposed. Betrayal, larceny, greed, sexual battery, and murder lurk beneath the surface of their glittering lives.
One unexpected twist after another follows as we watch a fierce, unapologetic Maud play the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff. And on who will fold.
Can she win?
Maud Warner has been planning to kill Burt Sklar since the day she accused him of taking all her mother's money and no one believed her. But when she goes to the Four Seasons with a gun in her handbag, she doesn't shoot him, she shoots his friend, Sun Sunderland. Why? That is what the society woman Maud used to be friends with, the cops, and the tabloids would love to know. But this isn't just Maud's story.
If you've read any of my past reviews, you know how much I love a book that changes perspectives per chapter. While I would say Maud is definitely the main character in this story, so is Sun Sunderland's widow, Jean, Greta, Jean's best friend, and Danye (I can't say who she is because it is THE MOST UNEXPECTED SURPRISE). They are all affected by the death of Sun Sunderland in one way or another and let me just tell you...be ready to be the most surprised and delighted that you've ever been!
There are not that many things I can talk about with this book because it is filled with shocking twists and turns and I had such a good time learning about the surprises that I cannot take that fun away from you. But I will say that Maud is a genius! When her family lost all their money, she turned to poker as her "drug" of choice and it teaches her everything she needs to know to lie, bluff, and maybe even shoot someone and get away with it.
The only critique I have is that it wrapped up way too quickly for me. The trial could have been AMAZING and suspenseful and thrilling, but it was pretty much glossed over which was incredibly disappointing, especially when this book was a total winner up until that point. But, other than the too quick ending, this was a brilliantly thought out and well-written book.
If you like mysteries, misconceptions being questioned and thrown out the window (no one suspects Maud to be a killer because of her age), and just some amazing characters and dialogue, Bluff should definitely be added to your TBR. I am giving Bluff by Jane Stanton Hitchcock 4 out of 5 stars. Check it out!
Bluff comes out April 2, 2019 (I know it's a long time to wait!!)
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she shoots Sun Sunderland, the "Pope of Finance," as he lunches with "accountant to the stars" Burt Sklar - the man she's accused for years of stealing her mother's fortune and leaving her family in ruins - she deals the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.
Maud has grown accustomed to being underestimated and invisible, and uses it. Her fervent passion for poker has taught her that she can turn weakness into strength to take advantage of people who think they are taking advantage of her. It's uncanny how she reads them.
Her intimates in New York high society believe that "Mad Maud" accidentally missed Sklar, her real target. But nothing is as it first appears as she weathers the unexpected while following her script. And while Maud is on the run, the dark secrets of men who believe their money and power place them above the law will be exposed. Betrayal, larceny, greed, sexual battery, and murder lurk beneath the surface of their glittering lives.
One unexpected twist after another follows as we watch a fierce, unapologetic Maud play the most important poker hand of her life. The stakes? To take down her enemies and get justice for their victims. Her success depends on her continuing ability to bluff. And on who will fold.
Can she win?
Maud Warner has been planning to kill Burt Sklar since the day she accused him of taking all her mother's money and no one believed her. But when she goes to the Four Seasons with a gun in her handbag, she doesn't shoot him, she shoots his friend, Sun Sunderland. Why? That is what the society woman Maud used to be friends with, the cops, and the tabloids would love to know. But this isn't just Maud's story.
If you've read any of my past reviews, you know how much I love a book that changes perspectives per chapter. While I would say Maud is definitely the main character in this story, so is Sun Sunderland's widow, Jean, Greta, Jean's best friend, and Danye (I can't say who she is because it is THE MOST UNEXPECTED SURPRISE). They are all affected by the death of Sun Sunderland in one way or another and let me just tell you...be ready to be the most surprised and delighted that you've ever been!
There are not that many things I can talk about with this book because it is filled with shocking twists and turns and I had such a good time learning about the surprises that I cannot take that fun away from you. But I will say that Maud is a genius! When her family lost all their money, she turned to poker as her "drug" of choice and it teaches her everything she needs to know to lie, bluff, and maybe even shoot someone and get away with it.
The only critique I have is that it wrapped up way too quickly for me. The trial could have been AMAZING and suspenseful and thrilling, but it was pretty much glossed over which was incredibly disappointing, especially when this book was a total winner up until that point. But, other than the too quick ending, this was a brilliantly thought out and well-written book.
If you like mysteries, misconceptions being questioned and thrown out the window (no one suspects Maud to be a killer because of her age), and just some amazing characters and dialogue, Bluff should definitely be added to your TBR. I am giving Bluff by Jane Stanton Hitchcock 4 out of 5 stars. Check it out!
Bluff comes out April 2, 2019 (I know it's a long time to wait!!)
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
October 11, 2021
If a publisher asked me for a back-cover blurb of this, I’d feel OK about myself for declaring, “A feminist take on Elmore Leonard!” (I would regret the exclamation point, of course, but you have to concede to marketing.)
There is something Elmore Leonard-like about this novel. To Hitchcock’s credit, there are no inconsequential characters. People who originally seem as if they’re just in the background – like the lawyers or journalist – turn out to affect the plot not just by being there but also by their desires. It’s generally fun here (and almost always fun in Leonard) to find that someone you dismissed as minor (as “flat” in the notorious E.M. Forster distinction) turns out to matter in ways you might not have expected. A lot of people want revenge here, and a lot of people act to bring it about.
And there is something feminist as well. Our protagonist and narrator, Maud Warner, gets away with shooting a man in a crowded restaurant because no one can imagine that a dowdy 56-year-old woman could be a killer. After the shooting, she simply walks through the restaurant unharassed and makes her escape. As a 56 year old myself, that’s a bit troubling. I don’t feel that old, but I can see how it might be a heavier burden for a woman accustomed to being measured by the attractiveness of teenagers. (I don’t endorse that gender divide, but I can see how it would weigh more for Maud and for Hitchcock.)
In that context, we do get a first-wives-club bit of vengeance, with assorted wronged women discovering their common ground and acting on it. It’s neater and more contrived than Leonard, but it’s loosely in that vein.
I confess that I’d feel a bit guilty about sounding quite so enthusiastic about this novel as such a blurb would suggest, though.
That is, while Hitchcock has a gift for marketing-type claims, for summing up a situation in a pithy and funny sentence, she’s less able when it comes to weaving a plot.
At one level, she breaks a ‘rule’ that I like to prescribe: while most of this is in the first person, significant chapters come to us in the third. She more or less resolves that through the end – that is, we understand that Maud will eventually know the distant events that she comes to describe because of things that others tell her after the fact – but it still feels clumsy.
More frustratingly, I feel misled in many places. Maud gradually changes her story. [SPOILER:] What seems random at first – including such things as Sklar directing the bullet at Sunderland or the notorious gossip happening to show up just when Hobbes is interviewing Dahlia – turns out to be essential to a contrived and convoluted plot. There is no way Maud could have planned all she did, and it’s disappointing to have her reveal after the fact that she has indeed done so.
I love a good unreliable narrator as much as the next person, but I don’t like being misled only for the sake of making sure a plot holds together. Mislead me if it’s part of your narrator’s fundamental character but not because you want her to patch a story that has holes in it.
So, while I like the initial tone of this and very much like some of its impulse to reveal a toughness to the invisible middle-aged women of the world (calling them Grandma Moseses seems a bit much), I can’t help feeling let down by the narrative chicanery that Hitchcock employs.
There’s good fun here, so I can’t pan it beyond saying it’s caught in the genre. Check out my blurb, of course, but recognize that it’s got a measure of hyperbole to it, too.
There is something Elmore Leonard-like about this novel. To Hitchcock’s credit, there are no inconsequential characters. People who originally seem as if they’re just in the background – like the lawyers or journalist – turn out to affect the plot not just by being there but also by their desires. It’s generally fun here (and almost always fun in Leonard) to find that someone you dismissed as minor (as “flat” in the notorious E.M. Forster distinction) turns out to matter in ways you might not have expected. A lot of people want revenge here, and a lot of people act to bring it about.
And there is something feminist as well. Our protagonist and narrator, Maud Warner, gets away with shooting a man in a crowded restaurant because no one can imagine that a dowdy 56-year-old woman could be a killer. After the shooting, she simply walks through the restaurant unharassed and makes her escape. As a 56 year old myself, that’s a bit troubling. I don’t feel that old, but I can see how it might be a heavier burden for a woman accustomed to being measured by the attractiveness of teenagers. (I don’t endorse that gender divide, but I can see how it would weigh more for Maud and for Hitchcock.)
In that context, we do get a first-wives-club bit of vengeance, with assorted wronged women discovering their common ground and acting on it. It’s neater and more contrived than Leonard, but it’s loosely in that vein.
I confess that I’d feel a bit guilty about sounding quite so enthusiastic about this novel as such a blurb would suggest, though.
That is, while Hitchcock has a gift for marketing-type claims, for summing up a situation in a pithy and funny sentence, she’s less able when it comes to weaving a plot.
At one level, she breaks a ‘rule’ that I like to prescribe: while most of this is in the first person, significant chapters come to us in the third. She more or less resolves that through the end – that is, we understand that Maud will eventually know the distant events that she comes to describe because of things that others tell her after the fact – but it still feels clumsy.
More frustratingly, I feel misled in many places. Maud gradually changes her story. [SPOILER:] What seems random at first – including such things as Sklar directing the bullet at Sunderland or the notorious gossip happening to show up just when Hobbes is interviewing Dahlia – turns out to be essential to a contrived and convoluted plot. There is no way Maud could have planned all she did, and it’s disappointing to have her reveal after the fact that she has indeed done so.
I love a good unreliable narrator as much as the next person, but I don’t like being misled only for the sake of making sure a plot holds together. Mislead me if it’s part of your narrator’s fundamental character but not because you want her to patch a story that has holes in it.
So, while I like the initial tone of this and very much like some of its impulse to reveal a toughness to the invisible middle-aged women of the world (calling them Grandma Moseses seems a bit much), I can’t help feeling let down by the narrative chicanery that Hitchcock employs.
There’s good fun here, so I can’t pan it beyond saying it’s caught in the genre. Check out my blurb, of course, but recognize that it’s got a measure of hyperbole to it, too.
January 4, 2021
Bluff was a good way to start out my reading year. I give very few 5 stars reviews. The book has a very memorable opening. A middle age woman walks in at noon time into the Four Seasons Restaurant in NYC, pulls out a gun, shoots a very prominent person and then leaves. As a child, she was brought up into this society. She knows how to dress and what to say to the maitre d'. There were two men sitting at the table. Speculation is that she shot the wrong man.
This book is different than most mysteries I read. The main character ,Maud Warner is very good at poker. The plot is tied to the game of poker. Note the title is Bluff. She feels invisible as a middle aged woman who is under estimated in life and with poker opponents. There are many twists. The chapters are short. The book reads fast. There is some snarky humor from the widow of the man who was shot.
It was fun, entertaining and a five star read for me. What a good read to start the year.
This book is different than most mysteries I read. The main character ,Maud Warner is very good at poker. The plot is tied to the game of poker. Note the title is Bluff. She feels invisible as a middle aged woman who is under estimated in life and with poker opponents. There are many twists. The chapters are short. The book reads fast. There is some snarky humor from the widow of the man who was shot.
It was fun, entertaining and a five star read for me. What a good read to start the year.
December 14, 2018
Seldom do we get a murder mystery where we know exactly who done it, but we aren't sure about anything else. The intended victim may not have been the actual victim, but maybe it was. The three principal characters couldn't know each other, could they. It is all so simple, open and shut, but maybe it isn't. When the leader of the plat plays professional poker, we can't be sure of much.
I enjoyed the twists in this little tale of multiple revenges. The ultimate villain gets his just rewards and survives to not enjoy them. Money is not the solution, but the game is so much fun. I recommend this book for when life doesn't go your way.
I received the copy of Bluff I read for this review from BookishFirst.
I enjoyed the twists in this little tale of multiple revenges. The ultimate villain gets his just rewards and survives to not enjoy them. Money is not the solution, but the game is so much fun. I recommend this book for when life doesn't go your way.
I received the copy of Bluff I read for this review from BookishFirst.
November 28, 2022
I loved this! A high stakes cat and mouse with a heroine I can completely get behind and just a fantastic plot.
The story opens with Maud Warner, an aging socialite, walking into a restaurant, shooting a man, and walking out. As New York society erupts when they discover the man who was shot was a wealthy businessman Maud needs to rely on her poker skills to keep herself in the game.
I’m not a poker player so some of the metaphors were lost on me but my goodness I loved Maud. The flipping of POVs were excellent, the reveal was delicious (but probably not unexpected for most) and the ending was just perfect. The change between past and present wasn’t disruptive at all and you really got to know the characters well despite this being a short book. I’ll definitely be looking out for her other books!
The story opens with Maud Warner, an aging socialite, walking into a restaurant, shooting a man, and walking out. As New York society erupts when they discover the man who was shot was a wealthy businessman Maud needs to rely on her poker skills to keep herself in the game.
I’m not a poker player so some of the metaphors were lost on me but my goodness I loved Maud. The flipping of POVs were excellent, the reveal was delicious (but probably not unexpected for most) and the ending was just perfect. The change between past and present wasn’t disruptive at all and you really got to know the characters well despite this being a short book. I’ll definitely be looking out for her other books!
January 2, 2022
A great first book for 2022! Lots of fun twists and turns, and I loved how women (of all ages) shined throughout.
April 7, 2024
2.5 - I was just ok - not very believable- every character is unsympathetic. It’s not even really a murder mystery since you totally know who did it from the beginning. Each ‘clue’ has to be told to you because everything that is relevant happens off page. I guess I need a little more realism🤷🏻♀️
December 8, 2024
I NEVER saw that twist coming! That alone bumped it up a whole star for me.
November 27, 2024
Great mystery
August 12, 2021
This is a fast, fun read and a pretty good mystery.
December 11, 2020
I've said more than once that I'm a character-driven reader, and when I picked up Jane Stanton Hitchcock's Bluff, I hit the jackpot. Main character Maud Warner's witty, satirical voice grabbed me on the very first page, and the story she told enthralled me. How deep was I under Maud's spell? I stayed up until 5:30 AM to find out how it all came down, that's how deep.
The unfolding of Bluff's plot is delicious. Part comedic heist, part social commentary, Maud's voice makes readers feel as if they're right in the heart of the action... but they're not. Maud's a poker player, and she plays her cards close to her chest. One surprise after another lays in wait, and I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face most of the time as I read this book.
As we read, we hear Maud being called "Mad Maud," "the D.B. Cooper of little old ladies," "Grandma Moses," and an "AARP pinup," but Maud is simultaneously telling us her side of the story, so we know those epithets are the furthest thing from the truth.
Burt Sklar is the villain you want to tie to the railroad tracks. From his overuse of adverbs (that made me want to slap him each time he did it) to the repetition of his name... Sklar, Sklar, Sklar... I came to think of him as a festering wound on the rump of humanity. I was completely invested in Maud's plan for bringing him down. To continue the railroad analogy, once Sklar was tied to the tracks, I would gladly shovel coal into the boiler while Maud blew the whistle and aimed straight for this despicable excuse for a human being.
From the brilliantly designed cover to the very last word on the very last page, I loved Jane Stanton Hitchcock's Bluff. My advice? Get your hands on a copy, get your nest made, and start reading.
The unfolding of Bluff's plot is delicious. Part comedic heist, part social commentary, Maud's voice makes readers feel as if they're right in the heart of the action... but they're not. Maud's a poker player, and she plays her cards close to her chest. One surprise after another lays in wait, and I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face most of the time as I read this book.
As we read, we hear Maud being called "Mad Maud," "the D.B. Cooper of little old ladies," "Grandma Moses," and an "AARP pinup," but Maud is simultaneously telling us her side of the story, so we know those epithets are the furthest thing from the truth.
Burt Sklar is the villain you want to tie to the railroad tracks. From his overuse of adverbs (that made me want to slap him each time he did it) to the repetition of his name... Sklar, Sklar, Sklar... I came to think of him as a festering wound on the rump of humanity. I was completely invested in Maud's plan for bringing him down. To continue the railroad analogy, once Sklar was tied to the tracks, I would gladly shovel coal into the boiler while Maud blew the whistle and aimed straight for this despicable excuse for a human being.
From the brilliantly designed cover to the very last word on the very last page, I loved Jane Stanton Hitchcock's Bluff. My advice? Get your hands on a copy, get your nest made, and start reading.
December 10, 2018
Thankfully, I was on a bus trip and I could read all day. That’s good, because I could keep reading to the end and didn’t have to put this page turner down to let life get in the way. I was pulled in from the very beginning and was happily engrossed through to the last paragraph.
It’s about Maud who shot a man. We know she did it. Sounds simple, right. Not so much. There are twists and turns, cleverly written back stories, interesting characters, unlikable Burt and Sun, high society matrons, poker, fortunes lost or swindled, and, of course, bluffing.
I enjoyed the writing style. Bluff is very effectively written both in first person and third person; first person when Maud is talking about herself, third person when anyone else and other situations are central. Regarding the story itself: the author’s imagination is extraordinary.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I loved everything about this unique creation and recommend it to my reading friends. Well done, Ms. Hitchcock. I hated to see this one end.
It’s about Maud who shot a man. We know she did it. Sounds simple, right. Not so much. There are twists and turns, cleverly written back stories, interesting characters, unlikable Burt and Sun, high society matrons, poker, fortunes lost or swindled, and, of course, bluffing.
I enjoyed the writing style. Bluff is very effectively written both in first person and third person; first person when Maud is talking about herself, third person when anyone else and other situations are central. Regarding the story itself: the author’s imagination is extraordinary.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I loved everything about this unique creation and recommend it to my reading friends. Well done, Ms. Hitchcock. I hated to see this one end.
November 2, 2018
I have read a few of Jane Stanton Hitchcock's frothy "society" novels and thoroughly enjoyed the "snark" and humor. But, this novel was in a class of its own in the way it used success at poker as an analogy for success in life. The "take" may not be unique, but the book itself was fresh and clever and very entertaining.
Perhaps because I am "a lady of a certain age," I immediately bonded with the heroine (or is she technically an anti-heroine?) . She used her perceived invisibility as both a shield and a weapon-- and proved far from defenseless.
The characters are so perfectly drawn that I could cast the mini-series without any effort and I assure you that I would tune in (even though I know what the outcome is). The book is not so much a mystery, as a caper. And a wonderful character study. Yes, it is light reading, but that doesn't preclude it being well-written and well-done. I loved every minute of BLUFF.
Perhaps because I am "a lady of a certain age," I immediately bonded with the heroine (or is she technically an anti-heroine?) . She used her perceived invisibility as both a shield and a weapon-- and proved far from defenseless.
The characters are so perfectly drawn that I could cast the mini-series without any effort and I assure you that I would tune in (even though I know what the outcome is). The book is not so much a mystery, as a caper. And a wonderful character study. Yes, it is light reading, but that doesn't preclude it being well-written and well-done. I loved every minute of BLUFF.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews