First published 2013
Harris Stuyvesant arrives in Paris with what seems like easy money. The former Bureau of Investigation agent needs to locate Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two-year-old from Boston who stopped writing home. She came to Paris to model and act, then vanished into the bohemian quarter of Montparnasse. Stuyvesant expects to find her with some artist, living the wild life that Jazz Age Paris offers so freely. He traces her steps through cafés and studios, meeting everyone from bookstore owner Sylvia Beach to Ernest Hemingway to photographer Man Ray. All of them knew Philippa. Then his search leads him to the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol, where actors perform scenes of murder and madness for shocked audiences. The investigation turns deadly. Philippa is not the only girl who has disappeared. Someone in Paris uses violence as their medium, planning a final performance written in blood. Stuyvesant must enter a world where cruelty becomes art to catch a killer.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, missing-person
Setting: Boston, Montparnasse, Paris
Period: 1920s, Jazz Age
412 pages · Hardcover · Bantam
Content warnings: violence