Available on Amazon and on Book Depository (free delivery worldwide)
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9929674-7-5 / E-book ASIN: B00XW3IW9S
“An epic masterpice” named to more than a dozen Year’s Best lists
It was the shot heard ’round the world: On July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway died from a shotgun blast. It’s 1965, and two men have come to Ketchum, Idaho to confront the widow Hemingway — men who have serious doubts about the true circumstances of Hemingway’s death. One is crime novelist Hector Lassiter, the oldest and best of Hemingway’s friends…the last man standing of the Lost Generation. The other is Hemingway scholar Richard Paulson who sets out to prove that Mary actually murdered Papa Hemingway. Paulson believes Mary blasted herself out of a bad marriage and into her own brand of fame by blowing away her famous husband.
Often drunk and mildly deluded, Mary nevertheless proves dangerous quarry, quickly sensing the scholar has a hidden agenda that threatens her and her late-husband. The Paulsons and Hector soon learn a mysterious stranger is stalking the streets of Ketchum and Sun Valley — a murderer seemingly intent upon seeing old secrets remain buried, whatever the cost.
Print the Legend is a literary thriller about Hemingway’s death and the patina that perceived suicide lends the author’s legend…an exploration of the sinister shadow play and co-dependence that binds authors and their academics. It is a love story that finds the aging Hector Lassiter striving to protect Hannah as sinister forces gather around her, threatening her and her unborn child.
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About Craig McDonald
“Ingeniously plotted and executed, Print the Legend is an epic masterpiece from Craig McDonald. Beginning to end, I was riveted by this story of character, history and intrigue.” —Michael Connelly
“Craig McDonald’s Print the Legend deserves the attention of Hemingway aficionados…” —The Hemingway Review
“Provocative…McDonald creates a fast-paced drama—replete with shifting motives and personal interests on the part of all the major players—about the lore of one of America’s greatest novelists.” —Publishers Weekly
“With Print the Legend, his triumphant third novel in the series, McDonald cunningly blends high, low and pulp American culture at the mid-century. While the scale is immense, McDonald’s hand is deft, and we never forget that, at its center, this is a human story, complex and bruising and deeply felt.” —Megan Abbott
“A unique thriller that has McDonald’s pistol-toting crime writer, Hector Lassiter, a shady government agent, and Ernest Hemingway’s widow circling around some lost manuscripts. Smart, slow-burn suspense as well as a deft meditation on literary culture.” —Book People
“Another intriguing and convincing mix of history and hardboiled mystery.” —Kirkus
“While studying the ripple effect of Hemingway’s life and death, McDonald has created his own ripple effect. Long may he wave.” —The Drowning Machine
“One of the best books I’d read in years. Although the story begins with a Hemingway scholar wanting to prove Mary Hemingway murdered her famous husband, it quickly becomes a multi-layered plot with moving timelines. The book is labeled a crime novel, but that’s a terrible oversimplification. McDonald uses Hector Lassiter, an old friend of Hemingway’s, as a hero and a literary guide. […] This book will appeal to readers who read outside the crime genre.” —Veronika Pelka, Historical Novel Society (Editor’s Choice Selection)
“A stellar novel. Here McDonald builds his mystery around the death of Ernest Hemingway. Did Hemingway really kill himself, or was he, perhaps, a murder victim? Did he leave a viable literary legacy? Print the Legend is almost as atmospheric and skillfully executed as the works of Papa Hemingway himself.” —Mystery Lovers Review
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