The Devil's Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age

The Devil's Tickets is a great read from end to end. This book will grasp the reader's interest from multiple angles. From a historical perspective, the story explores American society in the first half of the 20th century, including more than one rags to riches subplot. Although I'm not a bridge player, the book explains the gamesmanship skills required to play the game successfully. For bridge lovers, the author also relates the hands and plays of many important matches, but this did not distract from the story line. Most fascinating is the central crime of the story (I won't give it away.) and the personalities of the perpetrator, victim, witnesses and jurors. I couldn't put the book down! Pomerantz has done a great job in researching and crafting an important saga in recent American history that had been largely forgotten. Festus L. Brisket

An absolutely wonderful book. Hard to put down. Having grown up in a family of bridge players and having played bridge a little myself, I so enjoyed reading about the evolution of contract bridge during the roaring 20s through the depression. Ely and Jo Culbertson were great promoters of the game, which resulted in great personal wealth. While the parallel theme, the fatal hand of Jack Bennett was suspenseful and exciting. Would his wife really shoot him over a game of bridge. It is far more complicated than that. I really enjoyed how the author explores the current lives of the families of the main characters after the 40s. As a reader, there were so many questions at the end of the era. Mr. Pomerantz explores the impact that the main characters have had on their families even in their everyday lives today. If you are a bridge player, you will love this book. If you have not played bridge, you will appreciate and enjoy the history and suspense. It is a must read for all!!!

This is a fascinating book with two parallel stories: The first is the development of the game of contract bridge, with a focus on the personality of Ely Culbertson in the 1920's, 30's, and 40's. The second, serving as a contrast, is a murder trial that originates from a husband and wife playing bridge together, fighting over the hand, and finally, the husband is shot. Anyone who is interested in bridge will find this book really interesting. As a young girl, I "caddied" contract bridge tournaments. What that meant in those days was that young teenage girls collected the score cards after each hand and carried them to the director, who would manually enter the information on a precomputer, hand created spreadsheet. The folks who played were extremely serious about the game and, yes, I heard a few very ugly arguments over how hands had been played. I used to joke that I saw marriages break up over bridge and that is why I never played it. But the adults in my household certainly did play, and hours and hours would be spent rehashing games, with complex arrays of cards and their play actually remembered and discussed. So I certainly do understand that contract bridge can be a beloved game at its best and an obsession at its worst. I enjoyed learning about Ely Culbertson and his wife Jo. He may have been a megalomaniac, but with his debonair affect and his Russian accent, what a charmer he must have been. And he certainly made a lasting contribution to a game that is the great and primary entertainment for many people. I recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys contract bridge, or a good story.

Wow! It's a fascinating book! A longtime bridge player (and even if I'd never touched a deck of cards), I couldn't put it down. The characters are larger than life - no author could make them up: the lovely Myrtle; Jack Bennett, her husband, who found women not terribly intelligent, but useful nonetheless; Jo, cool and elegant; Eli Culbertson, brilliant bridge guru, who searched (even placing ads in newspapers) for the perfect woman to be his wife; and Jim Reed, former U.S. Senator with mesmerizing oratorical skills. Mix this cast of characters and their interwoven lives with the later years of the Roaring Twenties - oh, yes, and mix with murder - and you've got a fine read!

A friend told me about this book. It's a Great Read! That's the simplest way to describe it. The Devil's Tickets was fun and also intense. It was a total escape, and just carried me away.The writing was smart and breezy. The book reminded me of Seabiscuit in the way it described the time period and in the way it brought me inside a world I knew nothing about. I knew as little about horse racing as I did about bridge. The bridge promoter Ely Culbertson? They don't make 'em like that anymore. Senator James A. Reed? He defended Myrtle Bennett in her murder trial after she shot her husband over a bridge game. Reed was a silky smooth lawyer an dpublic speaker and he was sleeping with his famous next-door neighbor at the time of this trial, which makes him a lot like politicans today. The Devil's Tickets made me laugh at times, and it also made me wonder, especially about the way men treated women during that time and during our time. I confess that it makes me want to learn how to play bridge.