The Solomon Scandals

The Solomon Scandals is a provocative Washington suspense novel inspired by now-forgotten history. A deadly high-rise collapse happened in Northern Virginia, and a U.S. senator and a Supreme Court justice held stakes in a CIA-occupied building.
 

In the novel, a rule-breaking reporter for a crooked newspaper investigates the darker side of a popular real estate tycoon. One of the tycoon's rickety buildings houses hundreds of workers for a shadowy bureaucracy. The reporter's incendiary discoveries compel him to hide his related memoir for a century to shield those on the scandals' fringes.

David H. Rothman's complex tale teems with memorable characters caught up in a classic Washington dilemma: friendship vs. duty. Real estate magnate Sy Solomon, a folksy ex-bricklayer, buys up scores of politicians and bureaucrats.

George McWilliams, a Solomon friend, is a mysterious editor wealthy enough to have built a mini Versailles. Wendy Blevin is a powerful but inwardly fragile gossip columnist from an Old Money family with its share of tragedies. Margo Danialson, a B.A. in medieval studies, is unhappily tethered to a corrupt federal agency. Dr. Rebecca Kitiona-Fenton, a multiracial feminist, outspokenly annotates the newspaper memoir of her white great-granduncle, Jonathan Stone.

Rothman's style is hardboiled and often satirical. Although Scandals includes strong language and some sexist and racist dialogue, Dr. Kitiona-Fenton's endnotes provide additional context.

Kirkus Reviews says the second edition "captures the aura of dark nihilism in some quarters of the political world with great power … This is a riveting work, mordantly insightful and surprisingly entertaining."
 

Note: Scandals is a character-driven suspense novel, not a "non-stop action" thriller.