The Edge of Ruin by Irene Fleming
a mystery book review
The Edge of Ruin is about a woman whose husband, the owner of a string of nickelodeons, comes home one day in 1909 and announces he is selling the businesses and everything else they own to become a movie producer in New York. Alas, poor Emily. Even "her fur coat, which he gave her before they were married" must go, while "he himself refused to part with so much as a silk hat." If he weren't so handsome... Their plight is complicated when a murder occurs during the filming of their first movie.
Movies, in 1909, could be made surprisingly quickly, but perhaps not as quickly as Adam imagines. His contract requires him "to deliver four one-reel movies by the twenty-third of the month: two Westerns, a comedy, and a drama. If they failed, Mr. Kazanow took the whole movie company, which meant everything they owned..." When Emily asks Adam if he consulted a lawyer before signing, he answers cheerfully, "Howie Kazanow is a lawyer." Worse yet, it turns out Thomas A. Edison has a patent on just about everything to do with making movies and is determined to brook no competition. His henchmen "have been known to break cameras, ruin film, and worse." So Adam decides to film across the river in New Jersey, instead.
Emily is a plucky lass (despite her paralyzing fear of heights), and since her husband's madcap venture can no longer be averted, she resolves to do what she can to make it a success. "Emily imagined the two of them in rags, fleeing their creditors, riding the rods of a boxcar into the West. Perhaps it would be romantic." Well, perhaps not - but readers who appreciate a wit as dry and skewering as the murder weapon will find The Edge of Ruin very, very funny. It's also a superbly researched portrayal of an era of ruthless business tactics, labor unrest and free-wheeling entrepreneurship. With a happy ending. Sort of. (2010, 230 pages, including an Author's Note about the history behind the novel)