Nobody knows the crooked turns, slippery slopes, and dark, dangerous stretches of the Beltway better than Margaret Truman, dean of the Washington, D.C., mystery scene. And no one is better equipped to lead a suspenseful tour into the treacherous territory of big-time political lobbying, where the right information and enough influence can buy power–the kind that corrupts . . . and sometimes kills.
Arriving home from a fund-raising dinner, senior Illinois senator Lyle Simmons discovers his wife’s brutally bludgeoned body. And like any savvy politician with presidential aspirations, his first move is to phone his attorney. In this case, it’s his old friend and college roommate, former DA Philip Rotondi, who gamely agrees to step out of quiet retirement and into the thick of a D.C.-style political, criminal, and public relations maelstrom from which no one will escape unscathed.
The crime scene is barely cold when the senator’s estranged daughter arrives hurling shocking allegations of murder at her father, despite a roomful of well-heeled witnesses who can provide Simmons with an alibi. Meanwhile, D.C.’s rumor mills and spin machines shift into high gear as speculation swirls around a tabloid- and TV-ready prime suspect: Jonell Marbury, a dashing lawyer turned lobbyist at a powerful K Street firm–and the last person to see the victim alive. But Rotondi harbors his own unsettling suspicions.
And after a second woman is killed, he discovers that a long-buried secret from his past may hold the key to cracking the case.
Aided by sleuthing ex-attorneys Mac and Annabel Smith, Rotondi reawakens the prosecutorial skills that served him so well in his gang-busting days, following the stench of dirty money and dirtier tricks across the country and across the thresholds of back rooms and front offices alike–where doing the right thing is for fools and taking on the system is a dead man’s gambit.
From the Hardcover edition.
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A U.S. senator's wife has been murdered, and the suspect list looks like a rogue's gallery—or, more specifically, an entire city block of Washington lobbyists. Fortunately, intrepid detective Charles Chang is on the case, sniffing out the darker side of Capitol Hill influence peddling. Another enrapturing addition to former first daughter Margaret Truman's crime series.
Library Journal
Presidential contender Sen. Lyle Simmons returns home from a political event to discover the bludgeoned body of his wife. While initial suspicion focuses on a vagrant picked up in the vicinity, highly visible lobbyist Jonell Marbury is soon linked to the crime. A second victim was last seen with Jonell, but both murder scenes look like setups to ex-attorneys Mac and Annabel Smith. Retired DA Phil Rotondi, Lyle's longtime friend and college roommate, concurs. Flashbacks to college days reveal that Phil was much closer to the victim than the senator and in possession of information that could focus the murder investigation on Jonell's crooked K Street employer. It could also prove disastrous to the senator, under suspicion himself. This 23rd Capital Crimes novel explores the relationships between special interests and politicians, both equally ruthless. While revelations of political skullduggery are fairly predictable, the book is well plotted and populated with interesting characters. A fine recording, expertly performed by Phil Gigante, elevates a competent mystery to a good listen. The absence of foul language, gore, and explicit material make this book enjoyable for listeners who object to stronger material. Recommended for all mystery collections. [The prolific Truman passed away on January 29, 2008.-Ed.]
—Janet Martin
From the Publisher
Praise for Margaret Truman“Truman ‘knows the forks’ in the nation’s capital and how to pitchfork her readers into a web of murder and detection.”
–The Christian Science Monitor
Murder at the Opera
“Bestseller Truman’s twenty-second D.C. mystery [is] one of her strongest. . . . [She] widens her scope to reveal a charming supporting cast. . . . Glimpses of intelligence gathering in the Middle East lend a timely feel.”
–Publishers Weekly
Murder at The Washington Tribune
“Hooks the reader immediately.”
–The Oklahoman
Murder at Union Station
“Truman has produced another knowing look at Washington politics. She, of all people, should know her characters well, and she draws them with style.”
–The Dallas Morning News
Murder at Ford’s Theatre
“Dead-on descriptions of Washington’s most crack-ridden streets and exclusionary shindigs . . . Readers who enjoy travelogue, gossip, and social commentary in their whodunits will enjoy Murder at Ford’s Theatre.”
–USA Today
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