"Twelve years ago, Chester Morton disappeared from his hometown in Mattuck, New York, leaving no trace and never to be heard from again. For the past twelve years, his mother has kept the search for her son alive--paying for a billboard overlooking the local community college, putting up new flyers every week, hounding every law enforcement agency she can get to listen. Her determination has made his disappearance very high profile but it's also been damaging to her family, her children and to herself. Now, Chester's body is finally found--hanging from the very billboard that has been advertising his disappearance. Chester's corpse, however, is recent--meaning that Chester had been alive, somewhere, until very recently. Under pressure and with limited resources, the local police turn to Gregor Demarkian--a former FBI agent and a frequent consultant on such cases--to try and unravel the truth buried within this very complex and tragic case and find out once and for all what really happened all those yearsago"--Provided by publisher. - (Baker & Taylor)
When the recently murdered body of a boy kidnapped 12 years earlier is discovered by a billboard advertising his disappearance, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian is asked by a resource-limited police department to discover what happened. By the Edgar Award-finalist author of Cheating at Solitaire. 30,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)When the recently murdered body of a boy kidnapped twelve years earlier is discovered near a billboard advertising his disappearance, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian is asked by a resource-limited police department to investigate. - (Baker & Taylor)
“Haddam manages to produce each time a layered, richly peopled, and dryly witty book with a plot of mind-bending complexity.” —Houston Chronicle on Glass Houses
Twelve years ago, Chester Morton disappeared from his hometown in Mattuck, New York, leaving no trace and never to be heard from again. For the past twelve years, his mother has kept the search for her son alive—paying for a billboard overlooking the local community college, putting up new flyers every week, hounding every law enforcement agency she can get to listen. Her determination has made his disappearance very high profile but it’s also been damaging to her family, her children and to herself.
Now, Chester’s body is finally found—hanging from the very billboard that has been advertising his disappearance. Chester’s corpse, however, is recent—meaning that Chester had been alive, somewhere, until very recently. Under pressure and with limited resources, the local police turn to Gregor Demarkian—a former FBI agent and a frequent consultant on such cases—to try and unravel the truth buried within this very complex and tragic case and find out once and for all what really happened all those years ago.
JANE HADDAM, author of more than twenty novels, has been a finalist for both the Edgar® and the Anthony Award. She lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
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McMillan Palgrave)
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* In the 12 years since Chester Morton disappeared, his mother has never stopped trying to find out what happened to him. She's handed out flyers, harassed the police, and paid for a roadside billboard asking passersby who may know something to come forward. The billboard has been there all 12 years, and hardly anybody pays attention to it anymore. Then, after Chester's body is found hanging from the billboard—his very recently dead body, mind you—the authorities ask former FBI agent and part-time investigator Gregor Demarkian to find out what's going on. Faithful readers of the Demarkian novels (there are more than 25 of them) will be lining up for this gripping mystery, but here's the thing: like each of its predecessors, it works just fine as a stand-alone, too. Gregor is such a well-drawn character that readers, within a few pages of meeting him—and even if they've never picked up another Demarkian novel—will feel like they've known him for years. Rarely is a mystery series as consistently excellent as this one. Copyright 2011 Booklist Reviews.
