Darby Bannard

Two Dead men in Rock Creek Park Darby Bannard

This murder mystery and psychological novel tells of the tangled lives andloves of powerful figures in 1970s post-Watergate Washington. Catherine Lafitte has made peace with her past and with her husband, Hamilton "Hap" Lafitte, the philandering, hard-drinking US Senator fromLake City, Florida. She has a big house in the country and a lover in town,and has pushed herself to the top level of Washington society. Arthur Bernardi, Catherine's lover and famous sculptor, lives in an old housethat overlooks Rock Creek Park with his alcoholic musician friend CalCanoun. At a raucous party featuring the music of 91-year-old jazz musicianBenny King, we meet Harold Smith-Green, Catherine's former lover, knownin the media as "The Shadow Tycoon", Niki, the beautiful spoiled brat fromhorse country, Chloe the scheming left-wing columnist, Abilene Dooley, Washington's favorite courtesan, and Buck Reston, psychiatrist to the richand famous. Two days later their world is blown apart by the early morning discovery oftwo dead men in Rock Creek Park. Agents Richard Kuprovic and Joe Geraghty, the "Mutt & Jeff" of the FBI,conduct a frustrating murder investigation lightened by Kuprovic's banteringrelationship with girlfriend Cass Alexander, society girl turned fashionphotographer. Two mysterious poisoning deaths occur, a delightful Mayafternoon drive to Maryland's Eastern Shore ends tragically andstreetwalker Willa Hodges tells a frightening story. The solution of the mystery, inadvertently given away but unnoticed in themiddle of the book, is bizarre and completely unexpected.