Dying for Mercy (KEY News Series #10)

by Mary Jane Clark

Overview

A news anchor plays sleuth at an exclusive party where blood and secrets are spilled in the New York Times–bestselling author’s mystery thriller.

The recently renovated Pentimento, located in New York’s moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, is no ordinary estate. Strange secrets have been ingeniously built into its fountains, frescoes, statues, and architecture—clues to a bizarre mystery that is first brought to light when the owner commits suicide during a lavish gala.

Eliza Blake, co-anchor of the popular morning television show KEY to America, is present when the party is cut short by the host’s sudden, macabre death—and she’s the first to discover that Pentimento is a giant “puzzle house.” But each piece is leading Eliza and her KEY News colleagues—producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B. J. D’Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez—deeper into darkness, toward a killer who believes that some puzzles must never be solved. And it soon becomes shockingly clear that no amount of wealth or privilege can keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe . . . or alive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061893735
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/18/2023
Series:	Key News Thrillers , #10
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	388
Sales rank:	251,710
File size:	574 KB

About the Author

Mary Jane Clark worked at CBS News for nearly three decades. Her twelve KEY News media thrillers were inspired by that experience. Envisioning the Piper Donovan/Wedding Cake mystery series, Mary Jane enrolled in cake-decorating classes and researched unique wedding locations. The daughter of an FBI agent and a mother who customized cakes for the neighborhood kids when she was growing up, Mary Jane has two grown children and splits her time between New Jersey and Florida.

Editorial Reviews

At the start of bestseller Clark's smooth third Eliza Blake puzzler (after It Only Takes a Moment), the KEY to AmericaTV host is looking forward to attending a party to celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi at Ennis and Valentina Wheelock's newly renovated villa in Tuxedo Park, N.Y. Soon after Ennis's suicide by stigmata in the villa's greenhouse puts an end to the party, someone begins killing anyone who knows too much about the Wheelocks' connection to a 20-year-old cold case involving an abandoned convertible and its missing owner, landscaper Martin O'Shaughnessy. Each murder mimics "aspects of the Passion of Jesus Christ." As Eliza and her three KEY co-workers, who have dubbed themselves the Sunrise Suspense Society, swing into action, Eliza must fight to avoid becoming headline news herself as the killer's next victim. Those curious about Tuxedo Park will appreciate the well-researched portrait of the real-life exclusive community. (Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

A penitential suicide opens the door to wholesale homicide in an exclusive suburban enclave. Innis Wheelock, the brains behind wife Valentina's political ascent to the governorship of New York and the ambassadorship to Italy, has always felt guilty about something. As a party dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi winds down in their Tuxedo Park mansion, he does something about it, stabbing himself in the hands, feet and left side in the pattern of Christ's stigmata. But his ritual death is only the first of his posthumous messages. A lesser man might have placed in his safe-deposit box a confession of the conspiracy stretching back over 20 years to an apparently victimless car crash. But Innis, who really liked puzzles, has left behind a series of teasing clues to the secret he took to his grave. As luck would have it, someone else seems bent on scattering those clues through an equally ritualized series of murders designed to keep the secret a secret. Is that someone Innis's best friend Fitzroy Heavener, political operative Peter Nordstrut, Tuxedo Park police chief Clay Vitalli or (horrors!) all of them? And will TV morning-show host Eliza Blake, still fearful in the aftermath of her daughter's kidnapping (It Only Takes a Moment, 2008, etc.), put the clues together in time to save herself from the killer?Clark lavishes all the pointless ingenuity of Who Killed the Robins Family? on a transparent mystery, except there's no cash prize for beating Eliza to the solution. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh/William Morris Agency

Kirkus Reviews

Clark has perfected the suspense novel . . . in classic Christie fashion.” — Booklist

Clark’s latest rivals Christie’s best. Her short, to-the-point chapters, lucid prose, numerous suspects and faceless murderer’s creepy monologues keep the suspense at its chilliest level — and move the story forward at a brisk clip. One of Clark’s — and the genre’s — best. — Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

“smooth . . . Those curious about Tuxedo Park will appreciate the well-researched portrait of the real-life exclusive community.” — Publishers Weekly

As always, Clark gives the reader a strong trail of red herrings. This is another satisfying look at the behind-the-scenes world of television network news tied around an intriguing puzzle — Booklist

From the Publisher

Clark has perfected the suspense novel . . . in classic Christie fashion.

Booklist

Clark’s latest rivals Christie’s best. Her short, to-the-point chapters, lucid prose, numerous suspects and faceless murderer’s creepy monologues keep the suspense at its chilliest level — and move the story forward at a brisk clip. One of Clark’s — and the genre’s — best.

Lisa Ko

Clark has perfected the suspense novel . . . in classic Christie fashion.

Booklist

Clark’s latest rivals Christie’s best. Her short, to-the-point chapters, lucid prose, numerous suspects and faceless murderer’s creepy monologues keep the suspense at its chilliest level — and move the story forward at a brisk clip. One of Clark’s — and the genre’s — best.

Associated Press Staff

Clark’s latest rivals Christie’s best. Her short, to-the-point chapters, lucid prose, numerous suspects and faceless murderer’s creepy monologues keep the suspense at its chilliest level — and move the story forward at a brisk clip. One of Clark’s — and the genre’s — best.

Associated Press

In this latest Eliza Blake suspense offering, Eliza and her television news co-workers must solve the mystery surrounding the gruesome death by stigmata of a prominent New York politician's husband. A series of clues quickly ties a 20-year-old unsolved disappearance as well as a string of recent rapes to his death. Isabel Keating's rich, cultured voice and deliberate pacing bring to life this clever and intrigue-filled story of wealth, greed, and high-society secrets, in the finest Mary Jane Clark tradition. Keating’s portrayals of the various characters—from pompous matron to innocent child—are polished and interesting. Fans will not be disappointed in the story or its narration. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2010 - AudioFile