Description: A fifty-year-old cold case involving California royalty comes back to life--with potentially fatal consequences--in this gripping standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is preparing to move into a new future, restoration work on some of its art digs up a grim relic of the home's past: a human skull, hidden away for decades. Inspector Raquel Laing has her work cut out for her. Fifty years ago, the Estate's young heir, Rob Gardener, turned his palatial home into a counterculture commune of peace, love, and equality. But that was also a time when serial killers preyed on innocents--monsters like The Highwayman, whose case has just surged back into the public eye. Could the skull belong to one of his victims? To Raquel--a woman who knows all about colorful pasts--the bones clearly seem linked to The Highwayman. But as she dives into the Estate's archives to look for signs of his presence, what she unearths begins to take on a dark reality all of its own. Everything she finds keeps bringing her back to Rob Gardener himself. While he might be a gray-haired recluse now, back then he was a troubled young Vietnam vet whose girlfriend vanished after a midsummer festival at the Estate. But a lot of people seem to have disappeared from the Gardener Estate that summer when the commune mysteriously fell apart: a young woman, her child, and Rob's brother, Fort. The pressure is on, and Raquel needs to solve this case--before The Highwayman slips away, or another Gardener vanishes.Review Quotes: Praise for Back to the Garden
"[Inspector Raquel] Laing's investigation keeps the reader on the edge of their seat until the very last sentence. . . . Back to the Garden is the definition of a page-turner."--Criminal Element "Superb . . . starts strong and never loses momentum as it accelerates to an intense ending. . . . Back to the Garden is storytelling at its best." --South Florida Sun Sentinal "King skillfully misdirects the reader as the action builds to a surprising resolution. Laing . . . is a welcome addition to the ranks of contemporary female detectives. Hopefully, she'll be back for an encore."--Publishers Weekly "Back to the Garden is a pleasant departure for Laurie R. King. It is so nice to see all original characters from her after being addicted to her wonderful Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series."--Bookreporter Praise for the award-winning novels of Laurie R. King "The definition of binge-able."--Los Angeles Times"A lively adventure."--The New York Times
"Erudite, fascinating."--Houston Chronicle
"Whip-smart, suspenseful and intricately plotted."--Shelf Awareness
"Captivating."--Us Weekly
"Highly entertaining."--The Denver Post "Deliciously rich."--Santa Cruz Sentinel "Extremely exciting."--Chicago Tribune "Truly memorable . . . Laurie King brings her always amazing imagination to the page to enthrall readers, as only she can do."--Suspense Magazine "Compulsively readable."--Library Journal
"As intelligent as it is entertaining."--Chicago Sun-Times