The Red Scarf
By Babette Hughes
Nonagenarian novelist Babette Hughes has done it again. She has penned a powerful follow-up to The Hat, award winning acclaimed crime novel with the stunning surprise ending. And once again, the seemingly ageless writer is keeping good on her promise she made way back in 1963 in a piece she penned for the Saturday Review, her first national exposure as a writer. Regarding writing, she wrote in Confessions of an Unpublished Writer. “…I expect to practice it for as many years as I have left on earth.” The Red Scarf opens with Kate Brady, aka, Mrs. Ben Gold trying to find a normal life as the widow of the Godfather of the Jewish mafia, Ben Gold. Ben Gold is dead and the file is closed as far as law enforcement is concerned. The angry remaining Sarsini brother is the killer, or at least that’s what the FBI believes. Good riddance is what they and everyone who knew Ben Gold think, and Kate agrees wholeheartedly. Ben had treated her badly, was not a good man, and frankly deserved exactly what he got. And, so, as The Red Scarf picks up her story she is attending college, living on the millions of dollars of ill-gotten gain that Ben had left her, and trying to put the life of a moll behind her. But once again, even from beyond the grave, Ben Gold drags her back into the dangerous world of gangster and guns. When handsome FBI agent Adam Fairchild is introduced as a guest lecturer, she feels immediately drawn to him, and he to her. A torrid love affair ensues and soon, she is risking her life by revealing her darkest secret to him, trusting that he won’t put her away for life, or worse. He also reveals a secret, and they hatch a plan for her to infiltrate the dark and cavernous world of the Levine crime family and
somehow bring them all to justice by learning their secrets as well. She meets with J. Edgar Hoover, gets her orders, takes an oath, and embarks on a brave and danger-filled journey teeming with suspense and close calls throughout. Along the way she grows as a person and discovers that she is a strong and capable woman who deftly earns the trust of the bad guys and the respect of the law enforcement officials. For Kate, this story is about more than the thrill of bringing down another bad man who is intimidating her community and abusing his wife. This is about redemption. It’s about getting on with her life and leaving behind as best she can the lengthy laundry list of mistakes she had made as a young and impressionable woman. Once again, Babette Hughes brings all the moving parts of this story to what is becoming her signature, a climactic finish that leaves the reader breathless and yet still thinking about all the twists and turns and the characters we met in The Red Scarf days later, long after the last page is turned.