52 pages • 1 hour read
Rachel Koller CroftStone Cold Fox
Rachel Koller CroftFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 1-Interlude 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to child abuse, violence, substance misuse, sexual assault, and death by suicide.
Beatrice, “Bea,” disparages her boyfriend, Collin Case, for his appearance and performance in bed, but she is content with Collin because his family owns the Case Company. The inherited wealth of the Case family appeals to Bea, and her goal is to marry into such a family to ensure her comfort. Bea references how she learned from her mother’s manipulation of men, combined with Bea’s own research into corporate psychology. In the past, Bea dated older men in corporate circles, but she found that they were frequently violent, angry, or inappropriate, with one boyfriend cheating on her openly and another slapping her in the face.
Bea works tirelessly to maintain her status as a “ten,” or an exceedingly attractive person. She is a senior business development director at a large advertising firm. The Case Company is a client, and Collin asked Bea out nervously after she pitched for his company’s business. Bea subtly helped him ask her out, and she notes that Collin’s weakness is the result of years of coddling from his wealthy family. Bea criticizes other women in her office who resent Bea’s success, saying anyone can look good and work hard. Bea cannot find out much about the Case family, as wealth helps people hide their secrets, and she worries about the Case family investigating her past. Bea lives under a false identity in which Bea’s parents are dead and she attended Duke, as she could not maintain an identity through Yale or Harvard under scrutiny. Bea hopes that Collin gives her an opportunity to end the cycle of manipulating men and struggling to get ahead. This cycle was started by Bea’s mother.
Chapter 2 Summary
Collin brings Bea to a bar to meet his wealthy friends: Henry Ogilvy, Evan Burkhart, and Marty Knox, along with their respective wives and girlfriends: Hannah Ogilvy, Elizabeth Scott, and Paisley Cooper-Knox. Bea is nervous to meet Collin’s best friend, Gale Wallace-Leicester, who Bea is surprised to find is frumpy, showing no signs of putting effort into her appearance. The men are rowdy, choosing to spend the night at trivia in a bar to flaunt their superiority while pretending to mix with the lower classes. Bea notes how their thin wives and girlfriends are dull and petty. Bea relishes the way the men look at her, periodically gazing at Collin, playing with his hair, or kissing him to make them jealous and to ward off the women. Gale asks about Bea’s work, implying that Bea sleeps with her clients, but Bea laughs off the insult. Gale claims to be dating a man from Duke, noting that he does not know Bea. Bea says no one knows everyone from their class in college, and Collin supports her. When Bea asks what Gale’s boyfriend’s name is, Gale stutters and says Luke Dunne, which Bea jokes rhymes with Duke. Hannah, Elizabeth, and Paisley enjoy Gale and Bea’s sparring, holding back laughter and squeezing each other’s shoulders.
After trivia, Bea excuses herself to the bathroom, knowing the group will tell Collin they like Bea. Bea hopes Gale will follow her, and she is pleased when Gale enters the restroom and rejects Bea’s offer of lip gloss. Gale tells Bea that Collin periodically dates from “the fringe,” meaning people who are not wealthy, but Bea insists that her relationship with Collin is real, noting that they will soon meet with Collin’s family. Gale is disturbed by Bea’s use of the term “we,” and Bea leaves the bathroom satisfied. When the group parts ways, Bea kisses Gale on the cheek and relishes Gale’s discomfort. Collin holds Bea by the waist, and Bea is sure the group approves of her.
Interlude 1 Summary: “Richard: Atlanta, Georgia”
This interlude establishes the use of interludes as flashbacks. Bea is a child, and her mother tells her to use the name Rebecca for herself and to call her Rosemary. They live with Richard, Rosemary’s husband—Bea’s mother develops of pattern of giving the two of them aliases with the same first letter as their target. Richard is ugly, but he has a nice voice, and he swims in the pool with Bea. Richard’s only living family is his mother, Grandma Lois, who loves Bea and wants her to audition to be on television. Rosemary never gets in the pool, and Bea craves her mother’s attention, noting that her mother only pays attention to Bea when she does a good job of pretending to be happy.
Rosemary takes Bea to an audition. Bea knows that she has performed poorly because Rosemary does not talk to her for a week. Rosemary reads Bea a story every night about a rabbit who threatens to run away from his mother, and his mother says she will find him no matter what. Rosemary calls Bea “bunny,” and Bea hates the story. On Father’s Day, Richard is gone, and Rosemary and Bea pack their things. Bea is confused and upset, but Rosemary jumps in the pool with her and assures her things will be okay. Bea is happy to get her mother’s attention and to see her mother smile with her teeth, but Rosemary gets out of the pool, stops smiling, and says the next pool will be better.
Chapter 3 Summary
Back in the present, Sylvia Austin, “Syl,” Collin’s new assistant, calls Bea at work to ask about her preferences for gifts, which upsets Bea. Bea finds this to be a waste of her time. Bea rattles off her interests in jewels and flowers, and, later, Len Arthur, Bea’s boss, enters her office enraged. Bea tries to distract Len with her body, but Len is furious that Bea is dating a client, Collin. He found this out from Syl earlier. Len schedules a meeting with Rhonda in HR, and Bea notes how women in the office relish Bea being punished. Bea calls Syl, tells her she messed up, and demands to speak with Collin, who defends Syl, saying he did not tell Syl to keep his and Bea’s relationship a secret. Collin calls Len, who cancels the HR meeting and apologizes to Bea, but Bea is uncomfortable relying on Collin’s help.
Bea goes to Collin’s office to meet for lunch, wearing a tasteful but revealing dress that draws attention to her. Syl, to Bea’s dismay, is an attractive woman with a pleasant demeanor. Syl apologizes for revealing Bea’s relationship to Len, and Bea forgives her, noticing the small engagement ring Syl wears. Collin comes out, and Bea chides him as they leave, noting how attractive Syl is. Collin insists Bea is more attractive, and he adds that his father’s assistant is an older woman named Connie, adding that being an assistant is challenging work even if it is not suited to people like Collin and Bea. At lunch, Collin says it is time for Bea to meet his family, 4 months into their relationship, and Bea speculates that a proposal is on the horizon.
Chapter 4 Summary
Collin drives Bea to his parents’ home in Greenwich, Connecticut, enjoying the novelty of driving himself. The house is huge, and Collin’s younger sister, Calliope, greets them informally. Bea is unimpressed by Calliope’s hippie-like appearance and demeanor, and she resents the condescension in Calliope’s voice when she asks about Bea’s job. Bea and Calliope grimace at learning that Gale will join them. Haven and Hayes Case, Collin’s mother and father, enter and address Collin, first, then acknowledge Bea ambivalently. Gale and Chloe, Collin’s older sister, enter. Chloe is more put-together in appearance, and Bea foresees a challenge in bringing Chloe to her side.
They gather for food, and the family presses Bea for information. Calliope instigates arguments with Chloe and her parents, drawing their attention away from Bea. Collin suggests bringing Bea to Southampton on Memorial Day, but Chloe reserves the Southampton home for a singles party that day. Bea asks Gale about Luke, exposing her fictitious boyfriend to the derision of the Case family. When Collin picks a different Case family home to bring Bea to, Haven and Hayes suggest that it might be too early in their relationship for that kind of trip, prompting Collin to challenge them. However, Collin backs down, stroking Bea’s thigh but not standing up for her.
When Gale counters by bringing up Bea’s dead parents, Bea uses the excuse to walk away for a moment, noting how Collin does not speak up for her as she leaves. Haven follows Bea, leading her to a study where she offers Bea $5 million to break up with Collin discreetly. Bea rejects the offer, finding Calliope outside the door. Calliope congratulates Bea for resisting Haven’s offer. Back at the table, Calliope suggests bringing Bea to the family home in Newport, which Gale rejects, saying Bea would be bored there. Collin takes the suggestion, though, rejecting the opposition of both Gale and Haven. Bea spills water on Gale, apologizes, and relishes Chloe and Calliope’s stifled laughter.
Interlude 2 Summary: “Mother: Los Angeles, California”
Bea sits in the lobby of a run-down motel, while her mother argues with the man at the desk about her credit card. The man insists the card was declined, and Bea does not like how the man looks at her with pity. Bea and her mother leave and go to a fancier hotel, riding the elevator up to the 12th floor. Bea’s mother finds an empty room, and Bea convinces a housekeeper to open the door for them, noting how her cuteness usually gets her what she wants. In the room, Bea and her mother do not find anything significant to steal, but Bea is happy to find her mother’s favorite face cream. Bea’s mother steals and wears a red bathing suit, leaving Bea in the hotel lobby while she goes to the pool. Bea notes how women always ask if she is alright when Bea is alone, and they protect her from men.
Bea’s mother comes back with fries, which Bea rarely eats because Bea’s mother wants her to stay thin, and they go back to the initial motel. Bea’s mother is still wearing the red bathing suit top, and the man at the desk is distracted by her. Bea thinks he is a fool. Bea’s mother uses a stolen credit card to rent a room for the night, and then she sunbathes by the pool, relishing the way the man at the desk stares at her. The next day, the manager is at the desk, and Bea’s mother lodges a formal complaint against the man from the previous day, noting how he stared at her. Bea’s mother calls the motel for weeks with complaints about the same man under different names until he is fired.
Chapter 1-Interlude 2 Analysis
The first section of the text sets up Bea’s status as a con artist, but it also centers on Bea as a likable protagonist. While the reader might see Bea as immoral or irreverent by herself, Koller Croft crafts the narrative with Bea as the focal point and more antagonistic characters, like Gale and Haven, as the enemies Bea must thwart. Chapter 4 ends with Bea thinking to herself, “I would get them on my side. I would get all of them on my side” (67), reflecting both the “confidence” of her con artistry and the need to work the Case family from the inside, drawing in people like Chloe and Calliope, who might even help Bea in her endeavor. Much of the novel revolves around this process of determining whom Bea can convince to join her, and whom Bea will need to remove to succeed.
Bea’s characterization and narrative arc thus introduce the theme of The Consequences of Deception and Manipulation, as Bea begins Stone Cold Fox already in a position where she must worry about how others could interrupt her plans. Throughout the novel, the reader must bear in mind that Bea’s persona supposedly loves Collin wholeheartedly, with no ulterior motivation. Already, Bea was forced to put out the fire started by Syl, who called Bea’s office and alerted Len to Bea and Collin’s relationship. Bea immediately thinks, “And who else might she have blabbed to on the phone while ‘updating her files’ that day?” (41-42). Any leak in Bea’s tightly-woven narrative could indicate upcoming disaster, and Bea knows even something as simple as office drama could unravel her entire plan.
The Struggle of Identity Construction in a Materialistic Society is dominant in Bea’s memories of her youth, which center on Bea’s mother dragging Bea from place to place as she pursues men for their wealth. While this experience is not typical, it highlights the issues of materialism, as Bea’s mother thinks the only way to survive is to use men for material wealth and safety. In the first Interlude, Bea and her mother are staying with Richard, Bea’s stepfather. Bea has a good relationship with Richard. The problem with Bea’s mother’s methodology is exposed at the moment Bea realizes she and her mother are leaving, when Bea thinks, “I tell Mother I will miss her and Richard and my school and the house, and to shut me up Mother scoops me in her arms and jumps right into the swimming pool with me with all of our clothes on” (34). For Bea, the issue lies in the division of family life, in which she is forced to fully commit to a family, as she does with Richard, only to be torn out of that family and back into the “team” of her and her mother, alone. For Bea as a developing child, this pattern has the lasting effect of making Bea feel that she is always alone, and she cannot depend on anyone but herself.
Critically, the introduction of Bea’s mother’s favorite book, about a rabbit who runs away from his mother, highlights the problem in Bea’s relationship with her own mother, which Bea can sense even as a child. To Bea’s mother, Bea is something she can use to gain sympathy, to draw in men, and to cement herself as a “mother” in her constructed families. When Bea thinks about leaving her mother, she notes, “But I don’t know where I would go. And I don’t know if she would come find me” (34), showing how Bea is lost and alone, even as her mother gives her just enough affection to keep Bea from acting on her desire to leave.
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