The McFall Art Museum in San Francisco, California was well- known for its collection of modern art. The museum's chief curator, Christopher Thomas, however, was known for his wife's contribution to his career. It was widely known among the museum that Christopher owed his prestigious career at the McFall to his wife, Rosemary. Rosemary's money and connections helped create a name and reputation both for Christopher and the McFall. But when Christopher is found dead after a very public argument with his wife, she is convicted of his murder and executed.
Cop Jon Nunn thought Rosemary's execution finally put Christopher Thomas' murder to rest, but years after the execution doubts begin to haunt him. Nunn's belief in his role in helping to execute an innocent woman plunge him into a destructive life of drinking, losing both his wife and career. The evidence against Rosemary seemed concrete. After Christopher's decomposed body was found in an eighteenth-century torture device in Berlin, strands of Rosemary's hair and a button from one of her blouses appeared with the body. But ten years after Rosemary Thomas' execution, Nunn begins to discover who Christopher Thomas really was leading him to believe that Rosemary was cleverly set up by the real murderer.
Thomas' brilliant career as senior curator was a faรงade for his more sinister dealings. As Jon Nunn begins to look past Christopher's job at The McFall, he discovers that the curator had a sundry of enemies, included two very jilted mistresses. But Thomas' faults were not just limited to adultery -- stealing and replacing priceless works of art was a regular part of Christopher's job as curator. Christopher Thomas felt compelled to steal from his employer in order to pay off dangerous enemies who watched his every move.
Ten years after Rosemary's Thomas' execution, her will stipulated that a memorial service be held for her at The McFall Art Museum. Although no longer a cop, Jon Nunn is determined to attend the memorial where he is convinced the real murderer will be. But the memorial service will reveal more than what really happened to Christopher Thomas. The truth about Thomas' death will shock even the most astute mystery novel reader.
NO REST FOR THE DEAD begins with a challenge: try and guess the identity of the murderer. The novel is the work of twenty-six widely acclaimed authors. Each author contributes his own brand of writing resulting in an addictive mystery that is sure to have readers talking. As a reader of Agatha Christie and other mystery novels, I have found that most authors have a pattern when it comes to picking the murderer. The identity can usually be guessed by a series of clues. However, clues will get you nowhere in this brilliantly written novel. NO REST FOR THE DEAD is a complete original. Once you begin reading this mystery, you will not rest until you discover what really happened to Christopher Thomas.
More than twenty New York Times bestselling
authors team up to create a first-rate serial novel -- a
collaboration that combines the skills of Americaโs greatest
storytellers to produce a gripping, spellbinding mystery.
โThe lineup of writers who have contributed to this
mystery is akin to the Murderersโ Row of the 1927 New York
Yankees. There is not a weak spot in the bunch.โ
โDavid Baldacci, from the Introduction
Alexander McCall Smith. Sandra Brown. Faye Kellerman.
J.A. Jance. Jeffery Deaver. Kathy Reichs. Lisa Scottoline.
Jeff Lindsay. These are only a handful of the names
thatmake up the all-star lineup of authors behindNo Rest for the Dead, a tale ofvengeance,
greed, and love that flows seamlessly,in the words
of David Baldacci, โas it passes fromone creator's
mind to the next.โ
When Christopher Thomas, a ruthless curator at San
Franciscoโs McFall Art Museum, is murdered and his decaying
body is found in an iron maiden in a Berlin museum, his
wife, Rosemary, is the primary suspect, and she is tried,
convicted and executed. Ten years later, Jon Nunn, the
detective who cracked the case, is convinced that the wrong
person was put to death. In the years since the case was
closed, he's discovered a web of deceit and betrayal
surrounding the Thomases that could implicate any number of
people in the crime. With the help of the dead woman's
friend, he plans to gather everyone who was there the night
Christopher died and finally uncover the truth, suspect by
suspect. Solving this case may be Nunnโs last chance for
redemption โฆ but the shadowy forces behind Christopherโs
death will stop at nothing to silence the past forever.
In this innovative storytelling approach, each of these
twenty-five bestselling writers brings their distinctive
voice to a chapter of the narrative, building the tension to
a shocking, explosive finale. No Restfor the Dead
is a thrilling, page-turning accomplishment that only
Americaโs very best authors could achieve.
From the Introduction of No Rest for the Dead:
There is always that case, the one that keeps me awake
at night, the one that got away. Itโll always be there,
gnawing at the edges of my mind. It doesnโt matter that ten
years have passed, it doesnโt matter that the case is
officially closed. An innocent woman was executed, I was the
one who helped make it happen, and on the sad night when the
needle was inserted into her arm, injecting her with death,
part of my life ended too.
It never felt right, never made sense. Sure, there
was motive and opportunity, there was the physical evidence.
But if you met her, if you knew her the way I got to know
her . . . It wasnโt until later, after Iโd taken a step back
from the case, that I realized it had angles I hadnโt seen,
layers I hadnโt uncovered, back when it mattered, back when
I could have saved herโฆ.
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