Don’t hold your breath waiting for our first female president;
we’ve actually already had one, although not officially elected by
the American public. During Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, his second
wife, Edith, was kept apprised of all activities and even decoded
First World War secret transmissions.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for our first female president; we’ve actually already had one, although not officially elected by the American public. During Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, his second wife, Edith, was kept apprised of all activities and even decoded First World War secret transmissions. After Wilson suffered a complete breakdown and paralytic stroke, Edith, wealthy widow and descendant of Pocahontas, stepped into the shoes of the president in every sense of the word. For months, the president was sequestered from all visitors, and every decision was made through his wife as she wielded the reins of power in the White House. This is part of the fascinating history that inspired Kathleen Antrim in the six years of research and two years of writing that went into creating her new book, “Capital Offense.”
Kathleen began asking herself, “What if … what if the First Lady were plotting to overthrow the President? And … what if she had really good reason to do so? Once the idea was born, Kathleen kept pushing the envelope further until eventually it evolved into the only novel which critically examines the role of the U.S. first lady in government with such candor. While interviewing cabinet members, CIA agents, Secret Service, state troopers, and those on governor and senator security detail, there were times when Kathleen’s real life took on shades of the thriller novel she was working on. Probing in high places led to being warned off and told that she was in danger of stepping on some very important toes.
She analyzed the power of covert first ladies, like Nancy Reagan, who watched quietly while sipping her afternoon tea from the sidelines as the hatchet fell on some of the most powerful men in the country, such as Bill Casey, head of the CIA. Taking out the head of the CIA – now that’s power! It was the more overtly powerful Hillary Clinton who first brought out Kathleen’s curiosity about the immensely powerful role of first lady and who exactly she is held accountable to, if anyone. Hillary was the first first lady to insist on having her office in the West Wing just a few steps from the Oval Office of the president, rather than the usual East Wing relegation of first ladies. In researching this thriller, Kathleen discovered that the first lady has all the tools of power in a stealth role: she’s accountable to no one, knows all the secrets, has vast media and monetary resources, knows world leaders, and has total access to all the power brokers. Kathleen raises the interesting idea of wondering whether we will see any changes in this power structure once the first spouse in the White House is male.
The West Wing meets Law and Order in “Capital Offense,” a razor’s edge tale depicting the frightening conspiracy in American politics as the ambitious attorney Carolyn Lane supports her husband’s bid for the White House in order to pursue her own agenda. The reader is provided an engrossing tour through the bedrooms and back alleys that lie along the road to the White House. If you’ve read a number of thrillers, you know that after awhile you can usually guess the final plot twist before the ending, but in this page-turner, the reader is refreshingly rewarded with a surprising conclusion.
Kathleen has been an avid reader and writer all her life. She wrote her first “book” at the tender age of 7, entitled “A Witch in the Air,” replete with her own illustrations. She would bike home from the library with piles of books and always enjoyed writing her own stories and poems – until her senior year of high school, that is. That’s when her creative writing teacher read one of her compositions and reacted with the sentiment: “I’m gonna throw up on this paper!” Kathleen didn’t write another creative word for twelve years. For that reason, this book represents a triumph not only in commercial terms of being a best seller in independent bookstores, but also represents a deeply personal triumph for the author as well. This debut novel is already being compared to John Grisham’s work, and Kathleen has been honored by being asked to present her book on a 16-city book tour. Josh Deckard of the White House press office has ordered twelve copies for Air Force One. He personally hand-delivered a copy of Capital Offense to Laura Bush.
Now it’s your opportunity to meet the author, Kathleen Antrim, when she comes to Gilroy’s bookstore (The Wize Owl) for a book signing and talk from 4 to 6 p.m. next Wednesday; she looks forward to meeting the community and answering your questions. Capital Offense is doing so well that a sequel is already in the works. What a great opportunity for Gilroyans to meet and talk to news junkie, mom, president of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Foundation Board, political expert, and novelist Kathleen Antrim, a woman well on her way to making a big name for herself.
Kat Teraji’s column is published every Thursday in The Dispatch. You can reach her at
ka****@ea*******.net
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