When the Twin Cities are rocked by the “crime of the century,” Holland Taylor is the one PI who’d rather not be right in the thick of it. Still wounded by the long-ago death of his wife and daughter, Taylor does (delete “simple”) background checks and other simple cases with no interest in more challenging work. But almost by accident what should have been an easy job becomes something much more far-reaching and dangerous.

Eleanor Barrington, the doyenne of a socially prominent family of great wealth, has been arrested for the murder of young woman. Emily Denys was her son’s fiancé and Barrington made no secret of her disdain for the victim, convinced that she was trying to take advantage of her son and her family.

Holland Taylor had been brought in to do a full background check on Emily, only to discover that her name and her background were all fabricated. Before he could learn more, she was murdered—shot in the head outside her apartment.

Barrington had been overheard threatening her son’s fiancé and an eyewitness claims to have seen her kill Emily. But that’s not the worst of it. Barrington’s own son has even worse accusations to make against her. And the family, which has a long history in the area, is involved in a controversial business development that has all sides heated.

Caught in the dark tangle of a twisted family and haunted by his own past, Holland Taylor returns in the first new novel in this award winning, critically acclaimed series in almost twenty years. And what Taylor finds is that the truth remains elusive, frequently expensive and quite often fatal.

REVIEWS

"It can be tricky when a writer revisits a character after such a long time, but Housewright jumps right back into Taylor’s world as though no time has passed; even his writing style feels the same as it did, which is no mean feat when you think of how much a writer’s style can evolve over the course of two decades. Fans of the first three Taylor novels who have been longing for a fourth will be in seventh heaven, and this is also a perfect occasion for new readers to make the acquaintance of a smart, tough PI in the grand hard-boiled tradition"
--Booklist

"In Edgar-winner Housewright’s welcome fourth outing for St. Paul, Minn., PI Holland Taylor... the knots are many and messy, and Holland shows he has the wit and character to untangle them"
--Publisher's Weekly

"Housewright resurrects an appealingly troubled, self-tormenting hero who assures himself, “you’re the most pathetic human being alive,” even as he’s dodging bullets, decking assailants, making nice to his neighbor’s 11-year-old daughter, and coming up with a solution as dark as the mystery."
--Kirkus Review

"Holland Taylor is back and better than ever. He's a bit more gritty and the writing is a bit tighter and the plot thicker... As we rush to the ending there's a very nice amount of dark twist and turns that make this a novel that will stay with you for days after you finish it."
--Sons of Spade