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For Scott Hatcher, a former television writer turned struggling novelist with a failing marriage to boot, social-distancing and mask-wearing feel like fitting additions to his already surreal life. When his wife Marie and neighbor John Bergman disappear in the middle of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, Scott is naturally mystified and disturbed, but he is also about to learn that his picturesque neighborhood hides more than just the mundane routines of suburban life.
When a fire claims the empty house for sale next door, the entire community is shocked when the charred remains of Marie and John are found inside. Stranger still, stockpiles of valuable Personal Protection Equipment, clearly stolen, were destroyed in the blaze alongside them. As the neighborhood reels from the loss, Scott and Bergman's earthy and enticing widow, Rachel, not only find themselves under investigation for the crime, but also inexorably drawn to one another. As tensions reach a fever pitch, the tale—which is at once familiar and ordinary, yet bizarre and eerie—shows that, just like life in 2020's uncertain times, dread and danger lurk below the hidden underside of everyday suburbia.
Fans of Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town and films by the sardonic Coen Brothers will be captivated by the warped Americana of The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 4, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780825308703
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780825308703
- File size: 1187 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from August 8, 2022
This stellar mystery set in May 2020 from Benson (Blues in the Dark) focuses on TV writer turned novelist Scott Hatcher and Rachel Bergman, Scott’s dutiful housewife neighbor, who live in Lincoln Grove, a quiet Chicago suburb. When their respective spouses turn out to have gone missing on the same day, Lt. Pat Dante, of the Lincoln Grove PD, investigates. The stakes rise with the discovery of the remains of the missing spouses in a house destroyed by arson. Curiously, large amounts of personal protective equipment, apparently stolen, were burned in the fire. Scott and Rachel fall under suspicion, and they grow closer as Dante tries to untangle a spiraling web of crime. Though all the characters are painted with convincing brushstrokes, it’s the narrator, not identified until the end, who steals the show. “I’m the storyteller here, and I can tell the tale any way I choose!” he declares, and he freely editorializes and speculates about others, himself, and the troubled times following the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This wild roller coaster of a novel is an attention-grabber from first page to last. Agent: Cynthia Manson, Cynthia Manson Literary.
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