Joe Wilmot can't stand his wife Elizabeth. But he sure loves her movie
theater. It's a modest establishment in a beat-down town--but Joe has
the run of the place, and inside its walls, he's king. Without the
theater, he'd be sunk. Without his leadership, the theater would close
in a heartbeat. If it isn't the life Joe imagined for himself, at the
very least, it's livable.
Everything changes when Joe falls for the housemaid Carol, and the two
can't keep it a secret from Elizabeth. Elizabeth won't leave Joe the
theater unless he provides for her...but he's put all his money into
the show house.
Carol and Joe's only hope is the life insurance policies they've taken
out on each other. If one of them were to be presumed dead, they'd have
more than enough money to solve all their problems...
No one knows murder better than Jim Thompson and in this incisive foray
into the dark dealings of the mid-20th century movie industry, he
doesn't disappoint, in the riveting story of a love triangle gone
horribly wrong, and just how far one man will go to hold on to a
desperate dream.