A dozen murders and counting—and any one of them could lead a Chicago attorney to a hotheaded female tycoon.
It’s 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and criminal lawyer John J. Malone is nursing his blues in a Chicago dive bar. He’s been two-timed by his inamorata and abandoned by his favorite gumshoe partners, crime reporter Jake Justus and socialite Helene Brand, for their Bermuda honeymoon. But Malone’s not lonely for long. Suddenly, a stranger staggers into the bar, calls out the attorney’s name, and drops dead—stabbed in the back. In his possession is a key that could unlock the cold heart of Mona McClane, a wealthy and beautiful thrill-seeker who once challenged Jake in a high-stakes gamble: She’d bet him she could get away with murder.
Is this dead man a pawn in Mona’s game? If so, thank goodness Jake and Helene’s honeymoon turned as a sour as a margarita. They’re already back in town, at odds, yet ready to play. With a crazy wager like Mona’s, Malone fears they’ll be ringing in the New Year with a countdown of corpses.
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“Fun, with amusing incidents covering rather scrappy detection. Chicago setting for a story in which Lawyer Malone, Helen, and Jake Justis are once again involved in a wager with Mona McClane. The trio keeps in alcoholic training throughout…[while] the Justises make up after a honeymoon quarrel, and a tangled skein is unraveled.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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Craig Rice (1908–1957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels and short stories, sometimes described as the “Dorothy Parker of detective fiction.” She was the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine, on January 28, 1946.
Johnny Heller, winner of numerous Earphones and Audie Awards, was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. He has been a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award winner from 2008 through 2013 and he has been named a top voice of 2008 and 2009 and selected as one of the Top 50 Narrators of the Twentieth Century by AudioFile magazine.