Hanging the Devil
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Nov 14, 2023
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- $9.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
“A caper stuffed with comedy and crime...equal parts adrenaline and heart. A completely delightful read.” —Gregg Hurwitz, New York Times bestselling author
"Smart, sassy, and sizzling with action." —Deborah Crombie, New York Times bestselling author
It was supposed to be a simple job: steal the paintings, leave the forgeries...
When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is eleven-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men and a—ghost? At least that's how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Grace is found by Sally Mei, self-appointed guardian of Chinatown. While Sally trains Grace in basic survival skills, her erstwhile partner Cape Weathers, private detective and public nuisance, searches for the mysterious crew behind the robbery before they strike the museum a second time. As the clock winds down, Cape enlists aid from some unlikely allies to lay a trap for a ghost who has no intention of being caught—nor of leaving any witnesses alive to tell the tale.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Maleeny's goofy fifth thriller featuring San Francisco PI Cape Weathers (after 2019's Boxing the Octopus) sees Triad-trained assassin Sally Mei roping Cape into the protection of a young immigrant girl. Sally, who's tasked herself with keeping San Francisco's Chinatown safe, is trailing a date rapist when she runs into 11-year-old Grace. Grace, whose father, Wen, is facing arrest by Chinese authorities for protesting the government, has recently been smuggled out of the country and sent to live with her uncle Han, a security guard at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. While Grace was staying with Han at the museum overnight, a helicopter crashed into the building's skylight, killing Han before its passengers emerged, murdered their pilot, and stole a valuable Buddha statue. Grace escaped, and Sally enlists Cape to help keep the girl safe while they determine who was behind the heist. Meanwhile, Wen's imprisonment in China exposes him to a horrific experiment in which human genes are spliced into a monkey's brain. Maleeny keeps the zaniness high and the puns flowing (one character "can't resist a big macaque attack"), but the pace can drag, and his gimmick of starting new chapters with the final words of their predecessors grows tiresome. This is strictly for committed fans of the series.
