Having been a senior partner for many years in a prominent Manhattan-based law firm, this still very busy attorney has managed to carve out time for a second successful career. His well-received first novel, “Law Firm Down: A Story of Greed, Envy, Sloth, and Ego,” published in 2018 under the pseudonym Stephen Hollevy, was, for some time, an Amazon Kindle bestseller e-book in its category. Now he has written “The Call of the Wyldes,” a murder mystery that explores how far people might stray to protect what they have, recover what they’ve lost, or obtain what they want. It is like “Succession” but with the murder of a critical family member.

The Wyldes are a New York family of wealth and distinction, with a father rumored to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, a beautiful, socially prominent mother and three adult children. But secrets and turmoil roil beneath the surface. After she hires a personal assistant and their relationship deepens, a series of events are triggered, ultimately leading to the wife’s murder. Everyone in her immediate sphere has a motive of one kind or another (greed, need, envy, revenge, love, or hatred, to name a few). The unfolding story will keep you guessing about the killer’s identity until the end.

REVIEWS

 "In Rathkopf’s debut mystery, the wife of a wealthy New York City businessman is dead, a pill bottle beside the bed – but there’s more to the death than meets the eye….This is an ambitious effort by Rathkopf with [an] entertaining plot and some neat twists. Despite the fact that it’s narrated, in part, by Simon Crandell, an aspiring crime writer with a taste for hard-boiled classics, the old school mystery plot feels more indebted to Agatha Christie’s works than Raymond Chandler’s, and more melodramatic than either. The author is clearly capable of putting together a solid, engaging story….[F]uture mysteries from this author look promising."

" [The novel] is incredibly witty and fun. The wordplay is sizzling, and the characters deliver zinger after zinger…. Really great, believable characters and quite a crew of miscreants!...[The] writing is incredibly strong, setting the stage and bringing the story to life. Lots of great turns of phrase and interesting, well-crafted writing. It’s a great book…a true pleasure to read."

"A really interesting premise and a cool main character in Simon Crandall…[T]here is an audience for this style of story telling…[A] lot of humor and style, [it will do] very well with mystery readers. "