About the Book:

Cordelia is working to restore a historic theater in downtown Minneapolis that she recently bought with her sister Octavia, a world-famous actress. Cordelia has a vision for the playhouse's future, but the more she learns about the building, the more fascinated she becomes by its past. Nicknamed "The Old Deep and Dark" because of the Prohibition-era double murder that occurred in the basement—then a speakeasy—there are a wealth of secrets hidden inside its walls. And, to her shock and horror, Cordelia discovers that there is also one present-day body literally buried in a basement wall. Cordelia immediately calls on her best friend, Jane Lawless. Although Jane is already in the thick of another investigation—she's embroiled in a well-known country-western singer's family scandal—she agrees to help Cordelia out on the side. But show-biz is a small world, and as Jane starts tracing the trails of two separate investigations, she's surprised to find they might not be as unconnected as she thought.

About the Author:

Ellen Hart is the author of thirty-one crime novels in two different series.  She is a five-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, a three-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction, a recipient of the Alice B Medal, and was made an official GLBT Literary Saint at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans in 2005.   In 2010, Ellen received the GCLS Trailblazer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of lesbian literature.  For the past seventeen years, Ellen has taught “An Introduction to Writing the Modern Mystery” through the The Loft Literary Center, the largest independent writing community in the nation. Her newest Jane Lawless mystery, THE OLD DEEP AND DARK, was released by St. Martin's/Minotaur in October, 2014.   Ellen lives in Eden Prairie with her partner of 37 years.