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A Frida Kahlo painting, a scandal and secrets that threaten to change the course of history
In 1938, showgirl-turned-socialite Dorothy Hale falls from a Manhattan skyscraper. Her friend Clare Boothe Luce – writer, diplomat and rising political figure – commissions Frida Kahlo to paint a memorial portrait.
Months later, reporting from Europe, Clare encounters the Duchess of Windsor in Paris and begins to question what really happened that night. In New York, estranged from Diego Rivera and wrestling with betrayal, ambition and the demands of her art, Frida works on the painting that will become one of her most unsettling – and edges closer to the truth.
Was Dorothy Hale’s death an act of despair or something far more dangerous, entangled with the power struggles shaping the modern world?
'Oscar de Muriel writes with considerable flair. The prose is often vivid, even painterly… an intelligent, engrossing reimagining of a moment when culture and catastrophe stood perilously close.'
Historical Novel Society
‘An intensely, compellingly visual novel, with images that will haunt long after reading’
Craig Russell, author of The Devil’s Playground
‘Brilliantly blends fact and fiction. The political plot was gripping … does justice to Frida’s unique place in history, her pride, her passion and her pain’
S J Bennett, author of The Windsor Knot
‘Fresh and vibrant. An enthralling and enchanting novel that brings to life some of the most fascinating people of the twentieth century’
S J Watson, author of Before I Go to Sleep
Praise for A Frey & McGray Mystery series
‘I enjoyed this - properly creepy and Gothic’
Ian Rankin
‘A hugely entertaining Victorian mystery’
New York Times
‘Fun to read and a fast page-turner. Love and murder – they go together like strawberries and cream’
Independent
‘This is wonderful. A brilliant, moving, clever, lyrical book – I loved it’
Manda Scott
‘A great cop double-act . . . It’s the pairing of the upright Frey and the unorthodox McGray that notches up the stars for this book’
Sunday Sport
‘One of the best debuts so far this year’
Crime Review
‘Fast-paced, well-researched and thoroughly spellbinding. The mismatched pair is as entertaining as Holmes and Watson at their best’
Historical Novel Society
Oscar de Muriel is a writer, translator, historian and violinist. He is the author of a critically acclaimed series of Victorian mysteries, longlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association’s Gold Crown Award. He is currently collaborating with the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museums on an authorised book about Casa Azul, the home where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived and worked. Born in Mexico, he divides his time between Mexico City, Ribble Valley and Edinburgh.