Devil's Garden

Written by Ace Atkins

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Quinn Colson series comes a noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history.

San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe “Fatty” 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 her—crushed her under his weight—and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict.

In desperation, Arbuckle’s defense team hires an operative from the famed Pinkerton detective agency to investigate and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent’s name is Dashiell Hammett … and what he discovers will change American legal history—and his own life—forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890597618

Ace Atkins

Ace Atkins is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-seven books, including ten books in his Quinn Colson series. Handpicked by the Robert B. Parker Estate nearly a decade ago to continue the Spenser series, he's written nine novels about the iconic private eye. He lives and works in Oxford, Mississippi.

Reviews for Devil's Garden

[maneekuhi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed this very much, far exceeded expectations. The mood was excellent; this story felt like La-SF early 1920's throughout. The story was very interesting and stayed close enough to real events to read like true crime. This is real noir, without slipping into the now cliched lines of Chandler and Hammett. As you read how the trial plays out, you get a sense of justice during those days, and then give thanks for the fairer system we have evolved to - or have we.....? There are no heroes here, and while the last few chapters lead to the inevitable conclusion they did in real life, there is a slam-bam ending relaying an event I had not heard of before, one that just like the Arbuckle story, remains a mystery to this day.

[murdermysterymayhem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This hardboiled historical mystery is based on the three real life and highly publicized manslaughter trials of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of the highest paid silent film stars in the early days of Hollywood. It's 1921 and prohibition had been enacted a year earlier when Arbuckle throws a wild party full of bootlegged liquor and broads on Labor Day weekend at San Francisco's deluxe St Francis Hotel. Virginia Rappe, a washed up bit actress, crashes the party with some friends and ends up drunk, seriously ill, and half naked in Roscoe's room. A few days later she's dead and the media, lead by William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, sensationalize the story claiming Arbuckle's immense bulk crushed the girl. Arbuckle is accused of rape by Miss Rappe's friend Mrs. Delmont and witnesses begin to conveniently disappear. Whipped into a frenzy by the media's allegations the public convict Arbuckle long before the trial begins. Enter stage left, the Pinkerton Detective Sam Hammett, later known as Dashiell, hired to dig up the goods on Miss Rappe and the rest of the party goers who all seem to have some kind of ulterior motive. The Police have an agenda as well and it isn't about uncovering the truth. Littered with a cast of Hollywood characters from Charlie Chaplin to Marian Davies the story is captivating and Atkins's grasp of the vernacular bring fact and fiction together into a wonderfully gritty tale. Gumshoes, girls, greed, and graft make for the perfect noir novel.