Ashes to Ashes

Sloan Guarantee Trust, a major bank's trust department, is handling the sale of a Catholic parish school in Queens. The diocese plans to hand the property to a developer who intends to build an upscale apartment tower there. For the church, the sale promises a large windfall, but families who attended St. Bernadette's want the school kept open for their own children. Rising expenses and a shrinking student body have left the school unable to pay its way, and the diocese has decided to proceed regardless. Parents, clergy, and nearby residents and shopkeepers cannot find common ground. The question is whether anyone involved is willing to commit murder to halt the project.

The novel continues the series that follows John Putnam Thatcher, a polished, worldly senior vice president who heads the trust department at Sloan. Thatcher has a talent for uncovering hidden financial dealings and other secrets, and in this case his bank's business ties him to a dispute that grows deadly.