Madness Under the Royal Palms: Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach
Guest Reviewer: Meryl Gordon, Author ofMrs. Astor RegretsJust the name--Palm Beach--conjures up an American fantasy of  wealth, privilege and exclusivity. Laurence Leamer, in his well-written and  entertaining new book,Madness Under the Royal Palms,offers up an inside  look at this playground of the rich, and its under-class of social-climbing  wannabes. Tracing the history of Palm Beach and its magnificent real estate,  describing the fabulous parties, investigating some of the city's sordid  secrets, Leamer's book provides a memorable, and at times haunting,  portrayal of high society at a moment of transition, where things are often  not what they seem.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.