The Golden Gate
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
"Moreira displays his many years of dramatic training and extensive theatrical experience as he animates characters as diverse as low-life thugs, the upper-class Bainbridge women, and even Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Tim Campbell and Suzanne Toren ably narrate the court deposition sequences. This audiobook is part hard-boiled detective story, part family saga, and wholly good listening!"- AudioFile
Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth—not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings—Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s riveting debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.
A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A cop’s hidden past colors the hunt for a killer in this moody historical mystery. For homicide detective Al Sullivan, evidence on the scene of the 1944 assassination of presidential candidate and industrialist Walter Wilkinson is oddly reminiscent of another case—the murder, 10 years earlier, of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a young member of the uber-wealthy Bainbridge family. As Sullivan works the case and revisits the powerful Bainbridges, he soon finds that the investigation is packed full of questions about race, class, and even international affairs. Amy Chua creates a captivating World War II–era whodunit that often feels like a classic noir film. From personal loyalties to mercenary motives, each character brings their own fascinating flaws and complexities to the table. Handling a huge range of characters, narrator Robb Moreira makes all of their stories believable—even when, by all intents and purposes, they shouldn’t be. If you enjoy the classic works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, you’ll love The Golden Gate.
Customer Reviews
The Golden Gate
Many twists, always enjoy stories of Bay Area with some of local San Francisco history
New favorite book
Loved all the twists and turns