Craig Rice

“The grand dame of mystery mixed with screwball comedy” introduces her popular, sharp-witted Chicago lawyer/sleuth (Ed Gorman, Ellery Queen Award–winning author). John J. Malone, defender of the guilty, is notorious for getting his culpable clients off. It’s the innocent ones who are problems. Like Holly Inglehart, accused of piercing the black heart of her well-heeled and tyrannical aunt Alexandria with a lovely Florentine paper cutter. No one who knew the old battle-ax liked her, but Holly’s prints were found on the murder weapon. Plus, she had a motive: She was about to be disinherited for marrying a common bandleader. With each new lurid headline, Holly’s friends and supporters start to rally. There’s North Shore debutante Helene Brand; Holly’s groom’s press agent, Jake Justus; the madam of a local brothel, and Alexandria’s hand-wringing servants. But not one of them can explain the queerest bent to the crime: At the time of the murder, every clock in the Inglehart mansion stopped dead. And that’s only the first twist in a baffling case of “aunty-cide”—because Alexandria won’t be the last to die. Making his debut in this fun and funny novel, Craig Rice’s one-of-a-kind Chicago attorney is “an inspired creation . . . an unapologetic champion of the defense bar . . . a defender of the guilty whose contempt for society outstrips his contempt for criminals” (Jon L. Breen, Edgar Award–winning author). Eight Faces at Three is the 1st book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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