2010 marks 80 years since New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater vanished and became world famous. Brilliant and secretive, this "faithful husband" and"completely honest man" left behind a mistress, a string of chorus girls, a history of crooked political deals, and one big mystery. Writers have assumed that Crater's life ended the night of August 6, 1930. Yet the evidence shows that he got rid of files that day, repeatedly gave out a false clue, and hid financial information for his wife in a secret drawer that only she knew of. This book hunts down the most realistic guess what became of the man who fooled everybody. John Winslow Gibson has a background in philosophy, and his books have critiqued rationalism and fundamentalism, proposed new institutions for America's future, and examined esoteric writing in Plato's dialogues. As all of this has involved detective work of one sort or another, the Crater case caught his interest. He says his work on it was the most fun he has had writing.
