USA Today called Stephen L. Carter’s last novel “the perfect summer read . . . Carter slips in so many original, thought-provoking observations that the reader is sad the killer has been caught.” Now Carter, the best-selling author of New England White, is back with Palace Council, a gripping political thriller set in the era of Watergate and Vietnam.

Philmont Castle is a man who has it all: wealth, respect, and connections. He’s the last person you’d expect
to fall prey to a murderer, but when his body is found on the grounds of a Harlem mansion, the young writer Eddie Wesley, along with the woman he loves, Aurelia Treene, are pulled into a twenty-year search for the truth. The disappearance of Eddie’s sister June makes their investigation even more troubling. As Eddie and Aurelia uncover layer upon layer of intrigue, their odyssey takes them from the wealthy drawing rooms of New York through the shady corners of radical politics all the way to the Oval Office and President Nixon himself.

Suspenseful, provocative, and witty, Palace Council turns our assumptions inside out and reminds us how the struggles of that era set the stage for America today.