Neil Olson Bücher

Griechenland 1944: In einem kleinen Bergdorf verteidigen Partisanen mit allen Kräften eine alte Kirche gegen die deutschen Besatzer. Das Gotteshaus beherbergt die Heilige Mutter Gottes von Katarini, eine geheimnisvolle byzantinische Ikone, der wundersame Kräfte zugeschrieben werden. Durch einen Verrat scheitert der Widerstand, es gibt viele Tote – und die Madonnenikone ist entschwunden, wie vom Erdboden verschluckt. Ein Rätsel. Sechzig Jahre später taucht sie plötzlich in New York bei einem mysteriösen Schweizer Bankier wieder auf. Doch auch andere haben es auf die wertvolle Ikone abgesehen. Eine gnadenlose Verfolgungsjagd beginnt …

"Equal parts engaging and creepy, this twisty tale deftly examines how secrets and regret can continue to reverberate through generations. A suspenseful story that examines how families haunt each other in life and death; possibly too creepy for late-night reading." --Kirkus Reviews Will Connor returns to his hometown, a village north of Boston, to care for his injured mother. He's kept his distance from the town since high school, but once home he finds himself reexamining a horrific incident that took place during one of his mother's "spirit circles." His mother had embraced the hippie generation's fascination with New Age and the arcane, but the unexpected death of a close friend put an end to the meetings of the modern-day coven. Or did it? As Will looks deeper into his family's history he discovers that her practices weren't so much a passing fad but the latest link in a long tradition of New England witchcraft, which still seems to hold a strange power over the town. Will hopes that unearthing the facts about the death will put his questions to rest, but there are those willing to resort to violence to keep those secrets buried.

A literary mystery about an old-money East Coast family facing the suspicious death of its patriarch, and the unsolved theft of a Goya painting rumored to be cursed.