The Twenty-Year Death

France, 1931: A criminal serving a 40-year sentence in the forbidding Malniveau Prison is found stabbed to death in the streets of the nearby town where his beautiful 19-year-old daughter lives. When the daughter vanishes, her American-born husband demands an investigation - and sets off a cascade of events that puts them both in mortal danger. California, 1941: In the wake of the events in France, Shem Rosenkrantz brought his young wife back to America - where she was discovered by Hollywood and has become one of the movies' brightest stars. But Shem's star has fallen as Chloe's has risen, and his affair with one of her co-stars brings tragedy into their lives once more when his mistress is found brutally murdered. Baltimore, 1951: The repercussions of the Hollywood slayings have left Chloe in need of constant care - care that Shem can't afford, with his writing career derailed and his own mental and physical condition deteriorating. His only hope is a desperate trip back home to Baltimore, where the reading of his first wife's will could yield enough money for him and Chloe to survive on - or could lead to a catastrophic confrontation with the estranged son he barely knows, and a moment of madness and bloodshed that can never be undone. A breathtaking first novel spanning three decades and taking the form of three separate crime novels written in three distinct styles, each inspired by a different giant of the mystery genre - Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson.