THOMAS H. COOK was born in Fort Payne, Alabama. He has been nominated
for Edgar Awards seven times in five different categories. He received
the Best Novel Edgar, the Barry for Best Novel, and has been nominated
for numerous other awards.
About the book: Thomas Danforth has lived a fortunate life. The son of a wealthy
importer, he traveled the world in his youth, and now, in his twenties,
he lives in New York City and runs the family business. It is 1939, and
the world is on the brink of war, but Danforth’s life is untroubled, his
future assured. Then, on a snowy evening walk along Gramercy Park, a
friend poses a fateful question.
As it turns out, this friend
has a dangerous idea that can change the world. Danforth is to provide a
place where a “brilliant woman” can receive training in firearms and
explosives. This is to be the beginning of an international plot carried
out by the mysterious Anna Klein—a plot that will ensnare Danforth in
more ways than one. When the plan goes wrong and Klein disappears,
Danforth’s quest begins: it is a journey of ever-shifting alliances and
betrayals that will lead him across a war-torn world in search of
answers. Now in his ninety-first year, at the dawn of a troubled new
era, he sits in luxury at the Century Club and tells his tale to the
young man from Washington he has summoned, for reasons of his own, to
hear it.