Murder on the Cliff
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Legendary actress Charlotte Graham investigates a geisha’s death at an elegant seaside resort in this chilling cozy mystery that weaves together history, politics, and murder
When Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry unlocked the door to Japan, American consul Townsend Harris fell in love with the legendary geisha Okichi. It was to be a doomed romance that ended with the scorned young woman hurling herself into the sea. More than a century later, the citizens of Newport, Rhode Island, celebrate Perry’s journey by inviting Okichi’s last surviving descendant, Okichi-mago, to visit their glittering resort. A famous geisha herself, Okichi-mago’s voyage to Newport is a great diplomatic affair—and it will end in tragedy.
In a chilling echo of her ancestor’s death, Okichi-mago falls from one of Newport’s famous cliffs. But Hollywood icon Charlotte Graham can’t believe that the refined beauty would take her own life, so she sets out to find the killer.
Mystery lovers with an interest in the history of Japan or old Hollywood will adore Murder on the Cliff. When the rich and famous tangle with murder, there’s no sleuth more suitable to working the case than the glamorous Charlotte Graham.
Murder on the Cliff is the 3rd book in the Charlotte Graham Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Matteson ( Murder at Teatime ) recalls aging movie star Charlotte Graham for her fourth performance as amateur sleuth in this nuanced if genteel murder mystery. The upper crust in Newport, R.I., has created the Black Ships Festival to celebrate the anniversary of Commodore Perry's opening of Japan. Among the honored guests is modern Japan's most famous geisha, Okichi- mago. She is the only surviving descendant of an infamous liaison between the first American consul to Japan and a beautiful 19th-century geisha. She doesn't survive for long, however, as she soon plunges off a cliff. Her lover, an American who excels at both sumo wrestling and the sumo lifestyle, is knifed shortly thereafter. Matteson's extensive research is apparent as she conveys a cornucopia of interesting tidbits about Newport society and architecture, geishas and sumo wrestlers. (Well-bred geishas don't show their teeth when they smile, since teeth are part of the skeleton and therefore a reminder of death.) Unfortunately, the murders and deduction are far less compelling than the cultural voyeurism with which Matteson surrounds them.