Murder Book

Rayner. Richard

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Harper-collins Publishers

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Flamingo

Spanning two continents and three decades, The Cloud Sketcher is an epic tale of love, murder and revenge. Police stand ready to make an arrest as the Ile de France liner docks at New York Harbour in 1929. The passengers assume that it is notorious bootlegger Paul Mantilini who is to be taken away. But Mantilini walks down the gangplank a free man and instead it is Esko Vaananen the police arrest - a celebrated architect, and by all accounts a shy and mild-mannered young man. Born a peasant in rural Finland at the turn of the century, Esko, the son of an outcast Bolshevik, dreamed of skyscrapers and of a beautiful and tragic Russian aristocrat named Katerina. His entire life has been spent pursuing and protecting these twin passions, no matter how great the cost. It is a journey that has led him into the battlefields of the Bolshevik revolution and the jazz-age nightclubs of New York City, and finally, to strike a Faustian bargain with a ruthless gangster - all in pursuit of artistic perfection and impossible, unattainable love. And now he stands accused of murder... A grand and unashamedly romantic literary epic, The Cloud Sketcher moves from the battle of Tampere to the incredible danger of working on `the high steel' of skyscraper shells, from Prohibition to the remarkable intersection of organized crime, finance and the arts in 1920s New York, powerfully evoking an era gone by.

The Cloud Sketcher

Harpercollins Pb

HARPER/COLLINS

As the liner Ile de France docks in New York harbor, passengers notice with surprise the policemen gathered below and speculate as to which criminal among them will soon be apprehended. Here and there a single word floats above the general din: murder. Now and then a sage head tips knowingly in the direction of a flamboyant bootlegger: a crime of passion. But when the crowd begins to make its way down the gangplank, the notorious gangster slips through unmolested. Instead it's a celebrated architect with bums from a childhood accident partly covered by the patch over one eye -- who submits to authorities and is taken away in handcuffs.
So begins The Cloud Sketcher, a passionate tale of love and war and art that ranges from the ice fields of the Arctic Circle at the dawn of the last century to the ruthless world of New York real estate speculation in the 1920s. In a tiny village in the northernmost reaches of Finland, a young boy named Esko Vaananen mourns the death of his mother, who died in the same fire that so horribly scarred his face. Miserably, impossibly in love with the beautiful daughter of a Russian aristocrat, Esko is at the brink of despair when, in the magical light of the aurora borealis, he has a vision of an impossibly tall building rising gracefully from the frozen lake and disappearing into the clouds above him.
This pilvenpiirtaja--"cloud sketcher," or skyscraper sparks Esko's lifelong quest for beauty. He becomes an architect, believing that if he can create something of unparalleled loveliness, surely then he will be worthy of the love of Katerina Malysheva. This obsessive desire will cause Esko to risk everything time and again: as a reluctant hero in the bloody Battle of Tampere (the defining battle in the Finnish Civil War); as a laborer on the treacherous high steel of a riveting gang, hundreds of feet above Manhattan's city streets; as a player in the ruthless world of New York real estate speculation; and, finally, as a man accused of murdering the husband of the woman he loves.
The Cloud Sketcher is a transforming journey into the heart of beauty and the peril of love, a romantic, lyrical epic that resurrects history with such authenticity and drama as to place Richard Rayner in the company of our very best novelists.

United States

Harper

Working as an architect during the growth boom of McCarthy-era Las Vegas, Maurice Valentine is seduced by the beautiful Mallory Walker and fears that she may be using him to get close to a powerful mobster, a situation for which Valentine finds himself rendered a pawn in a mysterious game of revenge. By the author of The Cloud Sketcher. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

The Devil's Wind: A Novel

Harper-perennial

Billy McGrath, a philosopher turned top L.A. homicide detective, has consistently resisted the temptations and injustices of a corrupt system. But McGrath's dedication to the job has cost him the woman he loves and the daughter he'd die for ... and he's finally reached his breaking point.So when the city's biggest crack dealer offers him $1 million in cash as trade for the identity of a man McGrath believes to be a stone-cold killer, he takes it. And thus begins the ruin of a good man, whose fall from grace will take him on a riveting ride through the darkness of a tarnished city, and into the deepest folds of his own soul.

In a tiny village in Finland, Esko Vaananen is at the brink of despair -- he loves a woman he can never have. Suddenly, in the magical light of the aurora borealis, he has a vision of an impossibly tall building rising gracefully from the frozen lake and disappearing into the clouds above him. This pilvenpiirtaja -- "cloud sketcher" or skyscraper -- sparks a lifelong quest for beauty in Esko. He will pursue and protect these two passions -- his vision and his love -- no matter how great the cost, for the rest of his life. It is a journey that leads him into the Bolshevik revolution and the Jazz Age nightclubs of New York City and to strike a Faustian bargain with a ruthless gangster -- all in the pursuit of artistic perfection and impossible, unattainable love.

The Cloud Sketcher: A Novel

L.A. homicide detective Billy McGrath is called in to investigate the murder of a woman whose son is L.A.'s biggest crack dealer and finds himself offered a million-dollar bounty by the son to reveal the name of the killer. Reprint.

Thrillers & Suspense

HarperTorch

Working as an architect during the growth boom of McCarthy-era Las Vegas, Maurice Valentine is seduced by the beautiful Mallory Walker and fears that she may be using him to get close to a powerful mobster, a situation for which Valentine finds himself rendered a pawn in a mysterious game of revenge. By the author of The Cloud Sketcher.

The Devil's Wind

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rayner. Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rayner. Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rayner. Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Murder Book

Murder Book

The Cloud Sketcher

The Cloud Sketcher

The Cloud Sketcher

The Devil's Wind: A Novel

Murder Book

The Cloud Sketcher: A Novel

Murder Book

The Devil's Wind