Mike Lupica and Carl Hiaasen are friends, so they can talk about that, as well as talk about Lupica’s task of capturing Robert B. Parker’s voice in the Sunny Randall novels. Lupica tells about taking over that series. Robert B. Parker’s Payback is Lupica’s third Sunny Randall book. You can order a signed copy of it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3iJKnK8
Here’s Robert B. Parker’s Payback by Mike Lupica.
In her latest thrilling adventure, PI Sunny Randall takes on two serpentine cases that converge into one deadly mystery.
PI Sunny Randall has often relied on the help of her best friend Spike in times of need. When Spike’s restaurant is taken over under a predatory loan agreement, Sunny has a chance to return the favor. She begins digging into the life of the hedge fund manager who screwed Spike over – surely a guy that smarmy has a skeleton or two in his closet – and soon finds this new enemy may have the backing of even badder criminals.
At the same time, Sunny’s cop contact Lee Farrell asks her to intervene with his niece, a college student who reported being the victim of a crime but seems to know more than she’s telling police. As the uncooperative young woman becomes outright hostile, Sunny runs up against a wall that she’s only more determined to scale.
Then, what appear to be two disparate cases are united by a common factor, and the picture becomes even more muddled. But one thing is clear: Sunny has been poking a hornet’s nest from two sides, and all hell is about to break loose.
Mike Lupica is a prominent sports journalist and the New York Times-bestselling author of more than forty works of fiction and non-fiction. A longtime friend to Robert B. Parker, he was selected by the Parker estate to continue the Sunny Randall and Jesse Stone series.
If you enjoy either of these authors, you’ll appreciate the friendship and humor in this recent event.
The Poisoned Pen recently hosted Mary Dixie Carter with her debut novel, The Photographer, and Katherine St. John with her latest novel, The Siren. You can order signed copies of both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the debut novel, The Photographer.
Mary Dixie Carter’s The Photographer is a slyly observed, suspenseful story of envy and obsession, told in the mesmerizing, irresistible voice of a character who will make you doubt that seeing is ever believing.
WHEN PERFECT IMAGES
As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.
ARE MADE OF BEAUTIFUL LIES
But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s eleventh birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene—in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life.
THE TRUTH WILL BE EXPOSED
That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.
MARY DIXIE CARTER’s writing has appeared in TIME, The Economist, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Sun, The New York Observer and other print and online publications. She worked at The Observer for five years, where she served as the publishing director. In addition to writing, she also has a background as a professional actor. Mary Dixie graduated from Harvard College with an honors degree in English Literature and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two young children. The Photographer is her first novel.
Check out Katherine St. John’s The Siren.
From Katherine St. John, author of The Lion’s Den, comes another sublimely escapist thriller: When dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power hires his ex-wife, Stella Rivers, to act in his son’s film, he sparks a firestorm on an isolated island that will unearth long-buried secrets — and unravel years of lies.In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren, starring dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power playing opposite his ex-wife, Stella Rivers. The surefire blockbuster promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.
Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend everyone’s plans.
With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.
Katherine St. John is a native of Mississippi, graduate of the University of Southern California, and author of the critically acclaimed novel The Lion’s Den. When she’s not writing, she can be found hiking or on the beach with a good book. Katherine currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children.
Enjoy the virtual event featuring Mary Dixie Carter and Katherine St. John.
The Poisoned Pen recently hosted a virtual event featuring two authors who bookstore owner Barbara Peters referred to as “diabolical”. Peter Swanson, owner of Every Vow You Break, hosted Linwood Barclay, author of Find You First. You can find the books by both authors in the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the summary of Linwood Barclay’s Find You First.
The New York Times bestselling author of Elevator Pitch andmaster of psychological suspense returns with a riveting thriller in which the possible heirs of a dying tech millionaire are mysteriously being eliminated, one by one.
“Find You First starts with a bang and ends with an even bigger one. . . . It’s the best book of his career.” — Stephen King
Tech millionaire Miles Cookson has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of—except time. He has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and there is a fifty percent chance that it can be passed on to the next generation. For Miles, this means taking a long hard look at his past . . .
Two decades ago, a young, struggling Miles was a sperm donor. Somewhere out there, he has kids—nine of them. And they might be about to inherit both the good and the bad from him—maybe his fortune, or maybe something much worse.
As Miles begins to search for the children he’s never known, aspiring film documentarian Chloe Swanson embarks on a quest to find her biological father, armed with the knowledge that twenty-two years ago, her mother used a New York sperm bank to become pregnant.
When Miles and Chloe eventually connect, their excitement at finding each other is overshadowed by a series of mysterious and terrifying events. One by one, Miles’s other potential heirs are vanishing—every trace of them wiped, like they never existed at all.
Who is the vicious killer—another heir methodically erasing rivals? Or is something even more sinister going on?
It’s a deadly race against time . . .
You might also be interested in Peter Swanson’s Every Vow You Break.
“Hitchcockian chills and thrills abound in Swanson’s latest mystery, a twisty tale of survival and deception. ” ““ O, theOprah Magazine
A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this electrifying psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Eight Perfect Murders.
Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He’s a good guy, stable, level-headed, kind—a refreshing twist from her previous relationships.
But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.
Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something much, much more. Something special. Something real—and he’s tracked her down to prove it.
Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.
Enjoy the conversation between Linwood Barclay and Peter Swanson.
Our copies will be signed by President Clinton and Mr. Patterson!
As fans of these authors and of political thrillers, we wanted to give you early notice of an exciting event and opportunity. You can pre-order here. https://bit.ly/3uxfqPr
Please join us, and spread the word. And do please order your double signed copy early. Almost 70% of the books have already been pre-ordered, so order your copy now.
A rocket ride of a thriller—the new blockbuster by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson, “the dream team” (Lee Child).”‹
All presidents have nightmares. This one is about to come true.
Every detail is accurate— because one of the authors is President Bill Clinton. The drama and action never stop— because the other author is James Patterson.
Matthew Keating, a one-time Navy SEAL—and a past president—has always defended his family as staunchly as he has his country. Now those defenses are under attack.
A madman abducts Keating’s teenage daughter, Melanie—turning every parent’s deepest fear into a matter of national security. As the world watches in real time, Keating embarks on a one-man special-ops mission that tests his strengths: as a leader, a warrior, and a father.
The authors’ first collaboration, The President Is Missing, a #1 New York Times bestseller and the #1 bestselling novel of 2018, was praised as “ambitious and wildly readable” (New York Times Book Review) and “a fabulously entertaining thriller” (Pulitzer Prize”“winning author Ron Chernow).
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Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently hosted a discussion of women’s roles in the 15th century. Mary Sharratt’s book, Revelations, focuses on Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich. The conversation brought together Peters, Sharratt, Candace Robb, and Diana Gabaldon. You can find Revelations in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3o0nbem
Here’s Revelations.
A fifteenth-century Eat, Pray, Love, Revelations illuminates the intersecting lives of two female mystics who changed history—Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich.
Bishop’s Lynn, England, 1413. At the age of forty, Margery Kempe has nearly died giving birth to her fourteenth child. Fearing that another pregnancy might kill her, she makes a vow of celibacy, but she can’t trust her husband to keep his end of the bargain. Desperate for counsel, she visits the famous anchoress Dame Julian of Norwich.
Pouring out her heart, Margery confesses that she has been haunted by visceral religious visions. Julian then offers up a confession of her own: she has written a secret, radical book about her own visions, Revelations of Divine Love. Nearing the end of her life and fearing Church authorities, Julian entrusts her precious book to Margery, who sets off the adventure of a lifetime to secretly spread Julian’s words.
Mary Sharratt vividly brings the medieval past to life as Margery blazes her trail across Europe and the Near East, finding her unique spiritual path and vocation. It’s not in a cloistered cell like Julian, but in the full bustle of worldly existence with all its wonders and perils.
If you’re interested in the lives of medieval women or female mystics, you’ll want to watch this conversation.
Independent Book Review recently ran an article, “Our Favorite Bookstores in the World”. Anyone who loves independent bookstores will want to read it, https://bit.ly/3b8zpfB
And, anyone who loves The Poisoned Pen will appreciate the piece about the bookstore. The Poisoned Pen was recommended by R.Read.
“Being of a certain age, I may have frequented more indie bookstores than some readers are in years of age.
And by far, the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona outshines, outperforms, and eclipses all others for me, especially with their literary events and author collaborations!
Owner Barbara Peters makes it look perfectly natural to pull up a chair alongside Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Diana Gabaldon; just to name a few. Clive Cussler, a long time Arizona resident, made the Poisoned Pen a trusted source for his autographed books, and my personal favorite, Linwood Barclay of Toronto, Canada, once accepted a plate of homemade cookies from me during a reading/signing”“solely because he trusts Barbara!
Cozy in size, the store allows in-person engagements (pre- and post-COVID…they’ve done amazing at live streaming during the pandemic). Adorning walls above the stacks, the way crown molding might trim a ceiling, PPB has autographed photos of practically every famous author imaginable, along with the number of times/books they’ve presented at this location in Old Town Scottsdale’s Art District. If you love autographed first editions or imports, this shop is a must stop if you’re ever in the greater Phoenix area.
Visit their website to view past events, support indie, and get an autographed book by your favorite author”“it doesn’t get any better than that in my book!”
Congratulations to the 2021 Anthony Award nominees. The Anthony Awards are given at each annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention with the winners selected by attendees. This year’s Blood on the Bayou convention will be held in New Orleans from Aug. 25-29.
What You Don’t See– Tracy Clark – Kensington Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby – Flatiron Books Little Secrets – Jennifer Hillier – Minotaur Books And Now She’s Gone – Rachel Howzell Hall -Forge Books The First to Lie – Hank Phillippi Ryan – Forge Books
Best First Novel
Derailed – Mary Keliikoa – Camel Press Murder in Old Bombay – Nev March – Minotaur Books Murder at the Mena House – Erica Ruth Neubauer – Kensington The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman – Pamela Dorman Books Winter Counts – David Heska Wanbli Weiden – Ecco Press
Best Paperback Original/E-Book/Audiobook Original Novel
The Fate of a Flapper – Susanna Calkins – Griffin When No One is Watching – Alyssa Cole – William Morrow Unspeakable Things – Jess Lourey – Thomas & Mercer The Lucky One – Lori Rader-Day – William Morrow Dirty Old Town – Gabriel Valjan – Level Best Books
Best Short Story
“Dear Emily Etiquette” – Barb Goffman – EQMM – Dell Magazines “90 Miles” – Alex Segura – Both Sides: Stories From the Border – Agora Books “The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74” – Art Taylor – AHMM (Jan-Feb) – Dell Magazines “Elysian Fields” – Gabriel Valjan – California Schemin’ – Wildside Press “the Twenty-Five Year Engagement” – James W. Ziskin – In League with Sherlock Holmes – Pegasus Crime
Best Juvenile/Young Adult
Midnight at the Barclay Hotel – Fleur Bradley – Viking Books for Young Readers Premeditated Myrtle – Elizabeth C. Bunce – Algonquin Young Readers From the Desk of Zoe Washington – Janae Marks – Katherine Tegen Books Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco – Richie Narvaez – Pinata Books Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall – Alex Segura – Disney Lucasfilm Press
Best Critical or Nonfiction Work
Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy – Leslie Brody – Seal Press American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics and the Birth of American CSI – Kate Winkler Dawson – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club – Martin Edwards, ed. – Collins Crime Club The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia – Emma Copley Eisenberg – Hachette Books Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock – Christina Lane – Chicago Review Press Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession – Sarah Weinman, ed. – Ecco Press
Best Anthology or Collection
Shattering Glass: A Nasty Woman Press Anthology – Heather Graham, ed. – Nasty Woman Press Both Sides: Stories from the Border – Gabino Iglesias, ed. – Agora Books Noiryorican – Richie Narvaez – Down & Out Books The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell – Josh Pachter, ed. – Untreed Reads Publishing California Schemin‘ – Art Taylor, ed. – Wildside Press Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic – Nick Kolakowski and Steve Weddle, eds. – Polis Books
John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently hosted authors Jenn McKinlay and Paige Shelton. McKinlay’s thirteenth Cupcake Bakery Mystery is For Batter or Worse. Deadly Editions is Paige Shelton’s sixth Scottish Bookshop mystery. You can order signed copies of both books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s For Batter or Worse.
The Fairy Tale Cupcake crew must discover the truth behind a death sprinkled with suspicion before Mel and Joe can say “I do”, in the thirteenth Cupcake Bakery Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay.
Life is sweet and business is booming at the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery–and the fact that Mel and Joe are getting married is the icing on the cake. Their reception will be held at the swanky resort where Oz works as the pastry chef. The wedding planning is all fun-fetti and games until Mel and Joe meet the head chef at the resort who has been making Oz’s life miserable. When the eccentric chef insults Mel’s bakery, Oz gets into a blowout argument with the culinary prima donna.
Things turn extra sour when the chef is murdered, and Oz is the police’s main suspect. As the countdown to the wedding day begins, Mel, Joe, and the rest of the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew must sift through clues to catch the real killer and clear Oz’s name before their wedding plans are totally battered and baked.
Check out Deadly Editions.
A treasure hunt through Edinburgh gives way to a search for a villain terrorizing the city in Deadly Editions, the sixth Scottish Bookshop Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Paige Shelton.
It’s a quiet, snowy morning at The Cracked Spine bookshop, when bookseller Delaney Nichols receives a mysterious visitor, a messenger. He presents her with a perplexing note: an invitation to a meeting with eccentric socialite Shelagh O’Conner, who requests Delaney’s participation in an exclusive treasure hunt. Delaney is intrigued, but also cautious: Shelagh, while charming in person, has a reputation for her hijinks as a wealthy young woman in the ’70s. She was even once suspected for the murder of a former boyfriend, though ultimately cleared of all charges.
But Delaney is enticed by the grand prize at the end of the treasure hunt: a highly valuable first edition copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. The winner is also to receive the contents of Shelagh’s vast library, and all participants will earn a large sum of cash.
The night after the first meeting of the treasure hunters, however, several homes in Edinburgh are robbed in a manner reminiscent of Shelagh’s old tricks. And when a man connected to Shelagh is killed, suspicion builds. Except Shelagh herself has disappeared from her home, seemingly kidnapped by the villain.
Terror mounts throughout the city as Delaney attempts to solve the mystery, while trying to evade the killer’s clutches. But it’s hard to know who to trust when around every corner, a new monster could be lurking.
Enjoy the conversation with the two cozy mystery authors, Jenn McKinlay and Paige Shelton.
Eliot Pattison, author of the Bone Rattler series and the Inspector Shan Too Yun series, is guest author today. Copies of his books, including the latest in both series, The King’s Beast and Bones of the Earth, can be found in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3xCqixg
PATTISON is the author of the Inspector Shan series, which includes The Skull Mantra, winner of an Edgar Award and finalist for the Gold Dagger. He is also the author of the Bone Rattler series.. Pattison resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife, son, three horses, and three dogs on a colonial-era farm. Find out more at eliotpattison.com.
It’s always timely to talk about the mystery genre.
Poisoned Pen Post
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The Genre Made for Discovery
Years ago at a bookstore event in Boston, a reader very sincerely asked “you are such a good writer, why don’t you write real novels?” I choked down my immediate reaction, wondering where she had acquired such confidence that mysteries have no literary value, and simply replied that every good novel I could think of had a mystery at its heart. From time to time I contemplate that long ago comment, and think about how perspectives of the mystery genre have evolved over time. I am old enough to have heard a prior generation speak somewhat disparagingly about “dime novels,” and I recall shelves and boxes of these dusty pulp mysteries in my grandparents’ attics. These hearkened back to a time when such books were one of the very first mass market phenomena, so inexpensive and accessible that they attracted crowds of new readers—becoming an important benchmark in the evolution of the genre..
This evolution offers intriguing insights into the shaping of society generally. The arc of the genre from Poe to Arthur Conan Doyle and on to pulp fiction bears a correlation to the expansion of both literacy and leisure time. This liberation of new readers, chained to neither broadcast entertainment nor social media, brought an explosion in sales of mysteries. Publishers had to recalibrate, and rapidly expand. The Nick Carter detective franchise, for example, became an industry unto itself, generating 250 novels written by a dozen different novelists. These printing presses were driven by quantity, not quality, and it is no surprise that literary circles of the day treated their output with some disdain. Even Dashiell Hammett, who contributed at the higher end of the niche, later in life confessed that “I’ve been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.”
The paradigms, and prejudices, formed during this era seem to still shadow the genre, but only because they haven’t caught up with the richness of contemporary mystery offerings. There’s a reason why the genre has become the second highest selling segment in America (and the top selling in Britain), and it’s not because readers’ tastes have been dumbed down. Rather the quality and depth of the offering have steadily increased. At one time the literary mystery was an outlier that confounded critics. A generation ago Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose was hailed for its literary prowess but commentaries on the novel almost never used the term “mystery” to describe it, even though its plot revolved around the resolution of graphic, symbolic murders. Today booksellers can readily offer up “literary mysteries” and more than a few such novels have been finalists for literary awards. There is of course no strict definition of a literary mystery, a topic I have tested through the years. Apart from the unhelpful but frequent “I know it when I see it” response there is general agreement that it involves deeper development of character and setting than in traditional detective or police procedural tales. I admit these are important, and deliberate, elements of my own novels, but there is also something more ethereal that drives my commitment to the genre. Mystery readers are on a moral quest. Traditional mysteries guide their readers along a linear path to a resolution of moral clarity, offering reassuring order to readers increasingly suffering through a disorderly world. I believe, however, that more and more mystery readers are seeking the quest as much as the resolution. They are approaching their novels with an aggressive inquisitiveness, which in my case allows me to lead them into worlds they haven’t known before, into perspectives and human ordeals never before experienced. They may be bound together by a common quest for justice but learn, often painfully, that when viewed across cultures—and sometimes across time–justice itself can have many dimensions. I don’t want my readers to simply experience a satisfying jolt of righteousness, I want them to discover questions they never thought to ask. Mysteries are the perfect genre for doing so.
Eliot Pattison
April 2021
Here’s the description of The King’s Beast.
A simple task to retrieve some artifacts turns into a nightmare of deceit when Duncan McCallum finds himself the target of those obsessed with keeping America under British rule in this thrilling historical novel from an Edgar Award-winning author.
When Duncan McCallum is asked by Benjamin Franklin to retrieve an astonishing cache of fossils from the Kentucky wilderness, his excitement as a naturalist blinds him to his treacherous path. But as murderers stalk him Duncan discovers that the fossils of this American incognitum are not nearly as mysterious as the political intrigue driving his mission. The Sons of Liberty insist, without explaining why, that the only way to keep the king from pursuing a bloody war with America is for Duncan to secretly deliver the fossils to Franklin in London.
His journey becomes a maze of deceit and violence as he seeks the cryptic link between the bones and the king. Every layer that Duncan peels away invites new treachery by those obsessed with crushing American dissent. With each attempt on his life, Duncan questions the meaning of the liberty he and the Sons seek. His last desperate hope for survival, and the rescue of his aged native friend Conawago, imprisoned in Bedlam, requires the help of freed slaves, an aristocratic maiden, a band of street urchins, and the gods of his tribal allies.
Patrick Millikin from The Poisoned Pen and author Camille Kimball recently hosted Caitlin Rother, author of the true crime book, Death on Ocean Boulevard. You can find Rother’s books in the Web Store. https://bit.ly/3gVaO1u
Here’s Death on Ocean Boulevard.
Award-winning investigative journalist and bestselling author Caitlin Rother explores the mysterious death of 32-year-old Rebecca Zahau, who was found hanging from a second-story balcony of her multimillionaire boyfriend’s San Diego mansion in 2011. She was naked and gagged, with her ankles tied and hands bound behind her. On the door to her bedroom, investigators found a hand-written message: “SHE SAVED HIM CAN YOU SAVE HER.” The death was deemed a suicide, but Rother reveals there’s more to the story…
“I got a girl, hung herself in the guest house.”
The call came on the morning of July 13, 2011, from the historic Spreckels Mansion, a lavish beachfront property in Coronado, California, owned by pharmaceutical tycoon and multimillionaire Jonah Shacknai. When authorities arrived, they found the naked body of Jonah’s girlfriend, Rebecca Zahau, gagged, her ankles tied and her wrists bound behind her. Jonah’s brother, Adam, claimed to have found Rebecca hanging by a rope from the second-floor balcony. On a bedroom door in black paint were the cryptic words: SHE SAVED HIM CAN YOU SAVE HER.
Was this scrawled message a suicide note or a killer’s taunt? Rebecca’s death came two days after Jonah’s six-year-old son, Max, took a devastating fall while in Rebecca’s care. Authorities deemed Rebecca’s death a suicide resulting from her guilt. But who would stage either a suicide or a murder in such a bizarre, elaborate way?
Award-winning investigative journalist Caitlin Rother weaves stunning new details into a personal yet objective examination of the sensational case. She explores its many layers–including the civil suit in which a jury found Adam Shacknai responsible for Rebecca’s death, and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department bombshell decision to reconfirm its original findings. As compelling as it is troubling, this controversial real-life mystery is a classic American tragedy that evokes the same haunting fascination as the JonBenet Ramsey and O.J. Simpson cases.
