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 Atkinsβs Wicked City βgripping, superbβ
(Library Journal), βstunningβ (The Tampa
Tribune), βterrificβ (Associated Press), βrivetingβ
(Kirkus Reviews), βwicked goodβ (Fort Worth
Star-Telegram), and βAtkinsβ best novelβ (The
Washington Post). But Devilβs Garden is something
else again.
San Francisco, September 1921:
Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe βFattyβ 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
herβcrushing her under his weightβand brings him up on
manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearstβs 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, Arbuckleβs
defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation
of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agentβs
name is Dashiell Hammett, and heβs the bookβs narrator. What
he discovers will change American legal historyβand his own
lifeβforever.
βThe historical accuracy isnβt what
elevates Atkinsβ prose to greatness,β said The Tampa
Tribune. βItβs his ability to let these characters
breathe in a way that few authors could ever imagine. He
doesnβt so much write them as unleash them upon the page.β
You will not soon forget the extraordinary characters and
events in Devilβs Garden.
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