Mrs. Astor is a character in the Ghostwriter book The Chocolate Bar Bust. She is the antagonist that is behind the water bill scam.
Summary[]
After learning about a water bill scam in Fort Greene, Hector visits Mrs. Astor in her shop. The elderly woman is a former actress that sells various items, including baseball cards, and loves chocolate and peanut butter bars. She also knows a lot of sports trivia, and always quizzes Hector about sports before he leaves her store.
Hector sells Mrs. Astor four chocolate and peanut butter bars, then tells her about the water bill scam. She seems surprised to learn about it. A kid then comes into the shop. As they continue to talk about the con, including Hector saying that he and his friends are good at solving mysteries, something falls to the floor. Hector thinks that the kid was listening to their conversation. Mrs. Astor states that the kid likes to look at the baseball cards, but does not seem to have too much money to buy very many.
Before Hector leaves, she asks him a sports question, which she answers herself. She laughs, saying that she is always right about the Mets.
After the team finds other people that have been conned, Hector goes to Mrs. Astor’s shop to sell another chocolate bar. She is looking at pictures and newspaper clippings of her younger self as an actress. She becomes wistful, telling Hector that she had had a promising career, and did not know how it stopped. She then brightens, stating that if she still was acting, then she would not be eating delicious candy and talking to one of her favorite kids.
Later, Hector finds a fake water bill. He is soon kidnapped by Mrs. Astor, who ties him up and takes him into an abandoned building. She unties his gag after they are inside, and angrily asks him where the bill is. Hector pretends that he does not know at first. He tells her where the paper is. Mrs. Astor takes the bill, as well his wallet and keys, saying that she could plant them where she next does another scam.
Hector mistakenly reveals that he knows that the paper is a water bill, and tries to pretend that he knew about the water bills from some elderly people. Mrs. Astor states a bit later that he is lucky that she is softhearted, and ties his gag on again. She takes his Mets cap before leaving the building. Hector knew that he had smelled a strange odor on her breath, but does not know what it is.
The team visits her store later, where Mrs. Astor buys another chocolate bar from Hector. She tells them that there is a Mets game at two pm, so she is closing the store early. Casey tells Gaby that that she is confused, since she knows that there is not a Mets game that day. Hector later realizes that Mrs. Astor is the scammer, since his kidnapper’s breath had smelled like chocolate and peanut butter.
The team, Lieutenant McQuade, and Officer Tao later catch Mrs. Astor in the act of attempting to con someone else with a fake water bill. The lieutenant handcuffs her, and the former actress angrily shouts at Hector, knowing that he had something to do with the arrest. She tells him that her reasoning for the scam was to get more money, since she could not make a living off selling baseball cards. She was able to use all of the various accents and disguises due to her skills of an actress.
She then pretends to be suddenly weak, and asks for help. Lieutenant McQuade uncuffs her and helps her to the sofa. After he went to call for an ambulance, though, Mrs. Astor leaps up and manages to escape out of the apartment. However, she is caught by Stephanie Zapalowicz, who had helped the team solve the scam. The lieutenant handcuffs her again, then helps her into the car which Officer Tao had gotten, and the actress is taken away.