The most talked about fiction debut in years: a large, suspense-laden thriller that is also a novel of brilliantly astute social observation focusing on two fascinating worlds: that of the New York-Washington black upper middle class, and the complex world of an Ivy League law school. Judge Oliver Garland has just died in suspicious circumstances. Conservative and famously controversial, Garland has made many enemies. Many years ago, he'd earned a judge's highest prize: a Supreme Court nomination. But in a scene of bitter humiliation in front of a televised audience and before the eyes of his family, he had to withdraw his nomination. It was a national scandal, and a private agony, one from which he never recovered. Now, years later, the judge's death raises even more questions than his life did and seems to be leading to a second, even more terrible scandal. Could he have been murdered? He has left a strange message for his son Talcott, a professor at an elite Ivy League law school - entrusting him with 'the arrangements' - a mysterious puzzle that only Tal can unlock, and only by unearthing the ambiguities of his father's turbulent past. When another man is found dead, and then another, Talcott must risk life, marriage and reputation, following the clues his father left him. Intricate, superbly written, often scathingly funny, The Emperor of Ocean Park is a triumphant work of fiction, a brilliantly crafted tapestry of ambition, family secrets, murder, and justice gone terribly wrong.

Accolades

Shortlisted for CWA John Creasey Memorial Award 2002.