Devil's Garden

EDITORIAL REVIEW: **From the critically acclaimed, award-nominated author comes a new noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history.** Critics called Ace Atkins’s *Wicked City* “gripping, superb” (*Library Journal*), “stunning” (*The Tampa Tribune*), “terrific” (Associated Press), “riveting” (*Kirkus Reviews*), “wicked good” (*Fort Worth Star-Telegram*), and “Atkins’ best novel” (*The Washington Post*). But *Devil’s Garden* is something else again. San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel: girls, jazz, bootleg hooch . . . and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her—crushing her under his weight—and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. But what really happened? Why do so many people at the party seem to have stories that conflict? Why is the prosecution hiding witnesses? Why are there body parts missing from the autopsied corpse? Why is Hearst so determined to see Fatty Arbuckle convicted? In desperation, Arbuckle’s defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent’s name is Dashiell Hammett, and he’s the book’s narrator. What he discovers will change American legal history—and his own life—forever. “The historical accuracy isn’t what elevates Atkins’ prose to greatness,” said *The Tampa Tribune*. “It’s his ability to let these characters breathe in a way that few authors could ever imagine. He doesn’t so much write them as unleash them upon the page.” You will not soon forget the extraordinary characters and events in *Devil’s Garden*. Fiction,Historical,General,American Historical Fiction,Mystery & Detective,Thrillers,Suspense,Private investigators,California,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,Espionage,Fiction - Espionage,Thriller,Intrigue,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Trials (Murder),Motion picture actors and actresses,Biographical fiction,Noir fiction,Trials (Murder) - California,Arbuckle; Roscoe,Hammett; Dashiell,Rappe; Virginia,Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Espionage San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel: girls, jazz, bootleg hooch . . . and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her ? crushing her under his weight ? and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst's newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. But what really happened? Why do so many people at the party seem to have stories that conflict? Why is the prosecution hiding witnesses? Why are there body parts missing from the autopsied corpse? Why is Hearst so determined to see Arbuckle convicted? In desperation, Arbuckle's defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent's name is Dashiell Hammett, the book's narrator. What he discovers will change American legal history ? and his own life ? forever. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Quinn Colson series comes a noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history.San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel-girls, jazz, bootleg hooch...and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her—crushed her under his weight—and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst's newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. In desperation, Arbuckle's defense team hires an operative from the famed Pinkerton detective agency to investigate and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent's name is Dashiell Hammett... and what he discovers will change American legal history—and his own life—forever In This Noir Crime Classic About One Of The Most Notorious Trials In American History--the 1921 Manslaughter Case Against Silent-screen Comedy Star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle--dashiell Hammett Ivestigates What Really Happened At Arbuckle's San Francisco Party And Discovers A Truth That Will Change American Legal History--and His Own Life Forever. Ace Atkins. Map On Endpapers.