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THE FATES OF TWO BEAUTIFUL WOMEN LEADING SECRET LIVES ARE LINKED TRAGICALLY IN A MYSTERY WITH "A TOUCH OF BOURNE, A DASH OF BOND AND A SPRIG OF SPENSER". (John Crudele, the New York Post)

A neighborhood security guard apprehends Elizabeth Olsen, smoking gun in hand, fleeing a mansion.

Inside, John Denton, a banker with weird sexual tastes, lies dead, shot many times in the face.

The District Attorney, in an election year, will prosecute the case himself, which everyone regards as open and shut. After all, Elizabeth acknowledges that Denton was her lover. Her story has more holes in it than the victim: She entered the darkened house, found the body, was frightened by a movement, picked up the gun and fired at a shadowy presence.

Needless to say, no one believes Elizabeth, not even her high-powered lawyer. But her wealthy father does, and hires private eye Alton Rhode.

Rhode has doubts about Elizabeth, a sexy, amoral party girl. Yet, he uncovers just enough information to keep him going.

Then the case takes an even more tragic turn, sending Rhode on a journey into the past, where he uncovers a startling secret that changes everything and threatens everyone. With a quirky moral code that doesn’t allow him to take the easy way out, Rhode puts his own life on the line to protect two women he believes have been grossly abused.

Then a final, incredible revelation forces him to enlist some unlikely allies on both sides of the law.

MORE CRITICAL ACCLAIM

“While De Maria may have been an award-winning financial reporter, he's an awfully good fiction writer as well.” (THE NAPLES DAILY NEWS)

“What is really almost beyond belief is how easily De Maria has transitioned from the dry world of financial reporting to the wild and lavish world of novel writing.” (THE COLLIER CITIZEN)

De Maria is “a master of thriller dialogue.” (THE WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Winner of an Associated Press award for crime reporting, Lawrence De Maria is a Pulitzer-nominated journalist who cut his teeth on financial corruption at The New York Times and Forbes.

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