Mortal Friends - by Jane Stanton Hitchcock (Paperback)

About the Book

Her investigative tendencies roused by a murder on her favorite jogging path, Reven Lynch connects with enigmatic detective Gunner, who believes that the murderer is a high-society person hiding in plain sight.

Book Synopsis

"Murder, blackmail, and betrayal, all set against the glittering backdrop of Washington society."
--The Today Show

No one knows the world of high society better that New York Times bestselling author Jane Stanton Hitchcock--and no one captures its behind-the-scenes scandals and secrets better. In Mortal Friends, the Edgar(R) Award-nominated author of Trick of the Eye and Social Crimes offers readers a comedy of manners and murders which Barbara Goldsmith describes as a "dizzying dash through the heights of Washington society, a high velocity novel with more twists than a corkscrew." Dominick Dunne said, "I had a great weekend with this book." Find out how the other half live--and die--by spending some quality time with Mortal Friends.

From the Back Cover

Reven Lynch is a keen observer of luxurious life in her chic Georgetown neighborhood. Perhaps that's why--in the wake of a murder that inconveniently occurred at her favorite jogging spot--the intriguingly smooth Detective Gunner asks her to feed him inside information from deep within the rarefied world of embassy dinners and symphony balls. But from her vantage point among the privileged, Reven finds herself witness to crimes of a very different nature--not the least being the myriad sins of Cynthia Rinehart, philanthropist, shameless social climber, and dedicated husband hunter (no matter if said husband is already married). In this ultra-exclusive world of power and wealth, nothing old or new, in high culture or low, is entirely what it appears. And before Reven is done, her social world will unravel, an old friendship will be put to a severe test, and more than one scandalous secret will be revealed.

Review Quotes

"Riveting murder mystery" - Vogue
"Hitchcock deploys the same sharp wit and cynical attitude toward high society that she exhibited in One Dangerous Lady (2002) and Social Crimes (2005). . . . Good, bitchy fun." - Mary Frances Wilkens, Booklist
"Briskly entertaining. . . . Hitchcock has a sharp eye for telling detail." - Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal
"A mystery that has it all. Murder, blackmail, and betrayal, all set against the glittering backdrop of Washington society." - Today Show
"A dizzying dash through the heights of Washington society and politics and the depths of manipulation and murder. Jane Stanton Hitchcock's high velocity novel has more twists than a corkscrew." - Barbara Goldsmith
"MORTAL FRIENDS is a brilliant mix--an expertly paced novel of suspense and a cutthroat comedy of manners. In Jane Stanton Hitchcock's skilled hands, these Capitol killings show D.C. society for what it is--Deliciously Criminal." - Linda Fairstein
"Jane Stanton Hitchcock's MORTAL FRIENDS rips the curtain off the world of Washington and its social cut throats and power players. With elegance and panache she delivers a glittering cast that will keep readers up nights turning pages. A master plotter, Hitchcock has outdone herself. I adored this book." - Marie Brenner
"In Mortal Friends, Jane Stanton Hitchcock takes the reader into the elite and little known world of Georgetown, where the powerful of Washington reside. The plot is rife with deception, betrayal, adultery, mad men, and murder most foul. I had a great weekend with this book." - Dominick Dunne
"Hitchcock is back and better than ever!" - Linda Fairstein
"A dazzling, wicked murder mystery that unmasks most of Washington, which may never be the same." - Bob Woodward
"MORTAL FRIENDS is at once witty, sophisticated and chilling--imagine Edgar Allan Poe and Edith Wharton collaborating on a mystery. This novel had me guessing and turning the pages until the very end, and even then, I was surprised. Nobody else out there writes, or entertains, like Jane Stanton Hitchcock." - Susan Cheever
"This novel's got everything--passion, betrayal, money, obsession, murder. It's the book Patricia Highsmith and Edith Wharton might have written together." - Jim Lehrer, Washingtonian on Social Crimes
"Sophisticated entertainment for readers with a taste for luxury and a peeping-Tom urge to spy on high society." - New York Observer