Quogue Author Cristina Alger Publishes New Financial Thriller

Author Cristina Alger is no novice when it comes to the financial world. Having worked previously as an attorney and financial analyst, she’s got a wealth of knowledge on the industry

In her newest novel, “The Banker’s Wife,” she covers offshore banking and what she refers to as “the shadow economy” in a drama about a woman whose husband, an insider at a powerful Swiss bank, is presumed dead after a plane crash.

Meanwhile, a society journalist takes up an investigation of that same offshore bank after her mentor, who had been reporting the story, is found murdered.

Self-identifying as a financial news nerd, Ms. Alger said she was inspired to write “The Banker’s Wife” after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published the Panama Papers in 2016.

The Panama Papers is a data leak that came out of a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, in which an anonymous source—called John Doe, of course—sent information from inside the law firm to a German journalist named Bastian Obermayer.

“It was really comprehensive, and the ripple effect was crazy. It implicated a number of politicians and CEOs and cartel leaders, all types of people who were hiding money offshore,” Ms. Alger said. “There’s trillions of dollars hiding offshore in bank accounts, and they’re just numbered—there’s no real way of verifying who is behind the shell company that ‘owns’ it.”

She said she was fascinated by the “cross-section of über-wealthy people who do this” and how many different characters she could base on those kinds of people. “I think that was one of the interesting parts of the research, because these offshore banks are so anonymous that it’s almost this second economy. It transcends borders,” she said.

“The Banker’s Wife” is Ms. Alger’s third novel, her first two being “The Darlings” in 2012 and “This Was Not the Plan” in 2016. While she does use her background to write her novels, she said they don’t require any sort of financial background for readers to understand and enjoy them.

Ms. Alger said she doesn’t want to dumb anything down, so that people in the industry still see her stories as believable and authentic feeling. But, on the other hand, she wants those who are not involved in that world to find it interesting.

“In some ways, it’s a story about a couple and a marriage; in some ways, it’s a story about a political candidate; in some ways, it’s a story about a journalist trying to find the truth in her own life and in her professional life. … I think any reader can be engaged by that kind of story,” she said.

“The Banker’s Wife” is her third novel in six years, a fast pace by her measure, but “a slow pace according to everyone else,” she laughed.

She wrote “The Darlings,” which she never thought would be published, as a creative release while still working as an attorney. As it did get published and find success, she had to choose between continuing as a writer and quitting her job. “I’m on one long sabbatical,” she joked.

Ms. Alger is a big proponent of “write what you know,” as she tends to stick to writing about New Yorkers in finance. She grew up in Manhattan, so she knows her way around the city and the people who inhabit it.

“I certainly don’t know any shady offshore bankers, but a lot of people have asked me why I set [‘The Banker’s Wife’] in Switzerland. My uncle actually lives there, so I spent a lot of time there as a kid, and I always thought it was this glamorous place, and it was fun to revisit those memories while writing,” she said. Even though “The Banker’s Wife” is an international thriller, Ms. Alger still stuck to places she had visited, places she knows.

Ms. Alger was especially excited about the timing of the release of “The Banker’s Wife,” saying that she feels it is extremely relevant to the current climate. “In this time and political environment, telling stories about the quest for truth is important. That’s why I made one of the protagonists a journalist,” she said.

Ms. Alger’s next novel will be set a bit closer to home. “I’m actually writing a book about the Hamptons now,” she said. Summering in Quogue since she was little, Ms. Alger feels connected to the Hamptons—“The Darlings” is set partly in the Hamptons, and “This Was Not the Plan” has a number of scenes in the Hamptons as well.

Ms. Alger said she’s hopeful her next novel, which she is currently halfway through, will be completed within the year. The book will be about a series of murders that occur on Long Island and more specifically in Suffolk County.

“That’s been really fun for me, because I get to take my kids around to different places and parks, and they think we’re doing it for fun, but I’m really doing novel research,” she said. “I can really get into the settings and descriptions, because it’s all set locally.”

Cristina Alger will be at the Quogue Library on Sunday, July 29, 5 p.m.; East Hampton Library’s Author’s Night in Amagansett on Saturday, August 11, at 5 p.m.; and the Southampton Arts Center on Monday, August 27, at 4 p.m. For more information on events and book signings, visit cristinaalger.com.