Part of Isaac Bell, book 4
First published 2011
Isaac Bell faces his most dangerous adversary yet in 1910 America. Harry Frost has built a criminal empire spanning coast to coast, commanding gangs of killers and thieves in every major city. When Frost murders his wife's lover and attempts to kill Josephine herself, she flees into the protection of newspaper mogul Preston Whiteway. Whiteway has offered fifty thousand dollars to any aviator who can cross America by air in under fifty days, and he sponsors Josephine as a contestant in this unprecedented race. Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, accepts the case knowing Frost will target not just his escaped wife, but Whiteway and Bell himself. As primitive flying machines battle weather and mechanical failure across the continent, Bell must stay ahead of Frost's network of assassins. The detective has crossed paths with this ruthless criminal before and understands the scope of his resources and cruelty. With Josephine's life hanging in the balance and the nation watching the aerial competition, Bell races against time to stop a man who controls an army of murderers.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, race-against-time
Setting: America, United States
Period: 1910
464 pages · Hardcover · G.P.Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence