The Man on the Cover

Daniel Ross knows how to construct a convincing murder. His readers have made him famous for it.

But behind the success of seven bestselling crime novels is a writer who has not finished a book in two years. His wife, Clara, keeps their comfortable life running, while his literary agent, Evelyn Harper, waits for the manuscript that will revive his career. Daniel's fortieth birthday gives them another occasion to pretend that everything is going well.

Then a collection of old police files gives him what he's been missing: a reason to write. When Margaret Ashwood, the woman who gave him the files, is found dead, his search for inspiration becomes part of a real investigation.

Detective Evan Cole has read every one of Daniel's novels. Meeting the author should have been a pleasure. Instead, he must question him as one of the last people to have seen Margaret alive. What appears to be an accidental death raises questions Cole cannot easily dismiss, drawing him into the private lives of a celebrated writer and the people closest to him.

Clara helped Daniel rebuild his life after the death of his first wife. She knows his habits, his weaknesses, and the work behind his success. But as the investigation unfolds, the past begins to intrude on the life she has worked so carefully to preserve.

The Man on the Cover is a psychological mystery about a marriage shaped by grief and ambition, the secrets concealed by devotion, and a detective whose admiration for a storyteller may make the truth harder to recognize.