“[Fortune Favors the Dead has] razor-sharp style, tons of
flair, a snappy sense of humor, and all the most satisfying elements of a
really good noir novel, plus plenty of original twists of its own.”—Tana French
A wildly charming and fast-paced mystery written with all the panache of the hardboiled classics, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces Pentecost and Parker, an audacious new detective duo for the ages.
It's
1942 and Willowjean "Will" Parker is a scrappy circus runaway whose
knife-throwing skills have just saved the life of New York's best, and
most unorthodox, private investigator, Lillian Pentecost. When the
dapper detective summons Will a few days later, she doesn't expect to be
offered a life-changing proposition: Lillian's multiple sclerosis means
she can't keep up with her old case load alone, so she wants to hire
Will to be her right-hand woman. In return, Will is to receive a salary,
room and board, and training in Lillian's very particular art of
investigation.
Three years later, Will and Lillian are on the
Collins case: Abigail Collins was found bludgeoned to death with a
crystal ball following a big, boozy Halloween party at her home--her
body slumped in the same chair where her steel magnate husband shot
himself the year before. With rumors flying that Abigail was bumped off
by the vengeful spirit of her husband (who else could have gotten inside
the locked room?), the family has tasked the detectives with finding
answers where the police have failed. But that's easier said than done
in a case that involves messages from the dead, a seductive
spiritualist, and Becca Collins--the beautiful daughter of the deceased,
who Will quickly starts falling for. When Will and Becca's relationship
dances beyond the professional, Will finds herself in dangerous
territory, and discovers she may have become the murderer's next target.
