The Big Score

By Michael Kilian

A billionaire's commission draws an architect into a conspiracy of sex, lies, and murder

The ship is dead in the water. Its lines are tangled and its sails are slack as it drifts toward the rocky coast. A fisherman spies the vessel and steps aboard, expecting it to be deserted. But there is 1 passenger: a lovely young woman with a rolled-up painting in her hand and 2 bullets in her chest.

  Across Lake Michigan, Matthias Curland returns to Chicago for the 1st time since he gave up architecture to devote himself to fine art. After emptying his bank accounts for the pursuit of painting, he's shocked to find that his once-affluent family is also destitute, and their famed architecture firm is on the verge of bankruptcy. When the Curland name is linked to the dead woman's painting, Matthias finds himself facing off against a power-mad billionaire who could bring Chicago to its knees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Dec 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781784976552

Michael Kilian

Michael Kilian (1939-2005) was born in Toledo, Ohio, and was raised in Chicago, Illinois, and Westchester, New York. He was a longtime columnist for the Chicago Tribune in Washington, DC, and also wrote the Harrison Raines Civil War Mysteries. In 1993, with the help of illustrator Dick Locher, Kilian began writing the comic strip Dick Tracy. Kilian is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.