From the critically acclaimed, award-nominated author comes a new noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history. Critics called Ace Atkinsas "Wicked City" agripping, superba ("Library Journal"), astunninga ("The Tampa Tribune"), aterrifica (Associated Press), arivetinga ("Kirkus Reviews"), awicked gooda ("Fort Worth Star-Telegram"), and aAtkinsa best novela ("The Washington Post"). But "Devilas Garden" is something else again. San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe aFattya Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel: girls, jazz, bootleg hooch . . . and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed heracrushing her under his weightaand brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearstas newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. But what really happened? Why do so many people at the party seem to have stories that conflict? Why is the prosecution hiding witnesses? Why are there body parts missing from the autopsied corpse? Why is Hearst so determined to see Fatty Arbuckle convicted? In desperation, Arbuckleas defense team hires a Pinkerton agent to do an investigation of his own and, they hope, discover the truth. The agentas name is Dashiell Hammett, and heas the bookas narrator. What he discovers will change American legal historyaand his own lifeaforever. aThe historical accuracy isnat what elevates Atkinsa prose to greatness, a said "The Tampa Tribune." aItas his ability to let these characters breathe in a way that few authors could ever imagine. He doesnat so much write them as unleash them upon the page.a You will not soon forget the extraordinary characters and events in "Devilas Garden."