An exquistely written novel of love and betrayal, of money and power, set at the apex of that time of glitz and innocence known as the Jazz Age. CINCINNATI, 1927... Lawyer George Remus became the country's biggest bootlegger, grossing over $80 million until his arrest. Upon his release from prison, he learns that his beautiful wife, Imogene, has left him and that his bank accounts are empty. On the morning of their divorce, he runs her car off the road in the middle of rush hour in Eden Park and shoots her to death. Shocked and fascinated by this horrible crime, the country gears up for a sensational trial pitting the man known as “the king of the bootleggers” against Chief Prosecutor Charlie Taft, the youngest son of the former president. The trial is a national spectacle, a lens focused on the fabulous rise and fall of the Remus empire and the tragic love story within it, and an attempt to answer some tantalizing questions: What actually happened to the fortune? What are the motives of the federal agent who brought Remus down? What complex emotions and desires, leading ultimately to the ruin of three men, really lie within the heart of the woman known as the Jazz Bird? Based on a true story, The Jazz Bird is at once a love story, a crime novel, and the tale of the courtroom battle between two powerful men whose respective futures hang in the balance. "A striking, meticulously evoked Jazz Age saga that holds its own with the prose of F. Scott Fitzgerald and John O'Hara.... The novel is quite a departure from Holden's previous gritty contemporary thrillers...save for one key aspect: the care with which he crafts his characters." -- Los Angeles Times "Haunting and beautiful." -- People "Part historical thriller, part courtroom drama, part love story, it's a book that begs a single-sitting read." -- Time Out " The Jazz Bird sings an intriguing melody to which you can't help but succumb." -- Detroit Free Press "Assiduous research combines with racy dialogue, intriguing characters and, best of all, a story that is reluctant to impart the facts until it absolutely has to -- in other words, a stylish, sizzling page-turner." -- The New Zealand Herald "Outstanding." -- Publishers Weekly "A tour de force from a writer who gets better with every novel." -- Amazon.com Craig Holden is the author of four previous novels: The Jazz Bird , The River Sorrow , The Last Sanctuary , and Four Corners of Night. He lives in Michigan. Chapter One: Black for Mourning Already, the telephone in the study was ringing. They had just come in the front door from a glorious month at the family cottage at Murray Bay, Quebec: the clear frigid water with its walleye and bass and muskie, the autumn trees, the brisk air, the children. Ten years they'd been married, Charlie and Eleanor Taft, but instead of a second honeymoon they'd chosen to take the children along, and it had so been the right thing. Charlie carried a couple of bags, though the staff was unloading most of them. Now he dropped them in the doorway and raced to catch the call. "Charlie," Eleanor said. "You're still on your holiday! How important -- " But he was gone. "Taft," he said. It was one of his assistant prosecutors. As the man spoke, Charlie watched through the front window. "Samuel!" Eleanor called. Sam paused on the running board of the Pierce-Arrow as he reached up toward the canoe tied to the rooftop, his cuffs extending out from his coat sleeves. Charlie had always noticed how dark those white cuffs made Samuel's skin look, as dark, almost, as a Negro's. He was the darkest Asian Charlie had ever seen. He'd come to work for the family when they lived in Manila, in 1904, when Charlie's father was governor there, under Roosevelt, when Charlie was six and Samuel was seven and orphaned. "Can you come move these, please?" Eleanor said. "Charlie's blocked the way." "Yes, ma'am." "I see," Charlie said into the phone. "Give me half an hour." When he came out, Eleanor said, "What is it, dear? You look pale." "George Remus," he said. "You remember him?" "The bootlegger." "That's him." "I met his wife, once. Lovely lady. Imogene. She hosted a luncheon at the Sinton -- " "He's just shot her to death. In Eden Park." "Oh my God. Charlie." "On the way to the divorce court." Eleanor sat down on the sheet-covered Queen Anne sofa. "They're taking him back up there, now," Charlie said. "To the park. I'm sorry, but I should go -- " "Of course you should, dear," she said. Sweet, pretty Ellie. "I'm sorry. All this -- " He waved around at the mess of the closed-up house. "Never mind it," she said. "We'll get it taken care of. You go. Oh, that poor woman." "Yes -- " "Charlie, this will be very big, won't it?" She understood these things implicitly. She simply knew, and how she did he did not quite understand, for he told her little. "Yes, dear, it will. If he chooses to fight it." They were both silent a moment, contemplating this