The rich really are different as Lincoln Macveagh proves in his skewering of his own Park Avenue/Hamptons set in Paisley Mischief (#404). Paisley Mischief does double duty here as both the title of the novel itself, and of the fictional roman a clef which launches a scandal amongst the moneyed set.
Some things are just meant to be kept private. One can discuss things in the proper setting, like the Avenue Club, an exclusive male haunt, but never outside the confines of one's own set. Paisley Mischief reveals its embarrassing and salacious secrets to everyone with the money to pay for a copy. Who could have betrayed them? It had to have been an insider because many of the Park Avenue crowd know the stories to be true.
In the meantime, the Admissions Committee of the Avenue Club is engaged in deciding on just who to approve for the spring membership list. Several of the candidates are shoo-ins, but there are also two controversial nominees on the slate. To admit, or to not admit, that is the question...
This is a slight book, and an amusing one, too, I suppose, if you've never had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of this set's thoughtless (or intended!) snubs. If you have, you have my sympathy. Read it and root for the underdogs.
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