Local Author Spotlight: Marie Benedict (with co-author Victoria Christopher Murray)

By Emily King

Avid readers may know Marie Benedict as a bestselling author from Pittsburgh, but her newest success is a collaboration with another talented author, Victoria Christopher Murray. This partnership resulted in an incredible story of two very different women forming an alliance to take down a powerful and corrupt mob boss. It also captured the attention of a well-known celebrity-led book club. 

This is Benedict and Murray’s third book together. Their collaboration formed when Benedict, a young lawyer in New York City, was exploring The Morgan Library and Museum, which began as the personal library of J.P. Morgan. She learned the story of Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, who became the heroine of her first book with Murray, The Personal Librarian.

“Initially, I found Belle da Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, fascinating because she’d risen up to become a powerful force in the art world when women didn’t even have the right to vote. Over a decade later, when it was confirmed that Belle was a Black woman passing as white, I recognized that Belle deserved to have her story told by a Black writer,” says Benedict. Having just read one of Murray’s novels, Benedict reached out to her to see if she would be interested in co-writing the story. 

"I'm so fortunate that Victoria agreed,” she says. After the success of The Personal Librarian and earning a spot on the New York Times Bestsellers list, Benedict and Murray went on to write a second novel, The First Ladies, which explores the partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.

In their third novel, A Pair of Aces, the authors tell the story of Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney in New York City and Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, and Polly Adler, madam of a high-class brothel in New York. Despite their completely different backgrounds, the two women work together to bring down Lucky Luciano, head of one of New York City’s largest organized crime families. 

“With this novel we wanted readers to consider whether two people with wildly different backgrounds—and even beliefs and values—can put aside those divides and unify for the common good. It’s a question that’s as timely now as it was then,” says Benedict.

“From before we wrote the first words, we knew we wanted the novel to be about two women who understood that they didn’t have to be friends to be allies,” says Murray.

Publishing the book was already a milestone to be celebrated, but then their editor delivered even more exciting news. 

“When our editor told us that A Pair of Aces had been chosen as a Reese's Book Club pick, we were in disbelief — but obviously thrilled! It didn’t really sink in until we started to do several of the Reese’s Book Club in-person activities, podcasts, and interviews, and it’s been an unbelievable gift to be part of the Reese's Book Club community,” says Benedict.

Being selected for Reese’s Book Club has opened new opportunities for the authors. 

“We’ve had the opportunity to do a number of events including a large outdoor event in New York where hundreds of readers came out. I think Reese has introduced Marie and me to so many new readers,” says Murray.

Benedict, a Pittsburgh native, has found inspiration in the city’s history throughout her writing career. In fact, her novel Carnegie’s Maid was inspired by Andrew Carnegie’s life and explores the role that an Irish immigrant maid in the house of Andrew Carnegie may have had upon his decision to become a philanthropist and founder of the extensive Carnegie library system.

“I wanted to shine a light on the female immigrants like my ancestors (who did indeed work in the houses of wealthy Pittsburghers as domestics) who played such an important role in our country, but whose stories are often overlooked,” says Benedict.