Craig Rice, the author of fourteen novels, countless shortstories, and a number of true crime pieces, once rivaled Agatha Christie insales. She was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1946. However, the pastfifty years have seen her fall into relative obscurity. Rice made for aninteresting subject for a biography because nearly every identificationpoint about the author was in dispute: her birth, her real name, her numberof marriages, number of children, her canon of fiction, and the cause of herearly death. Marks had to wade through years of research to come up with theanswers to those questions. Following a trail that went from Venice, Italyto Venice Beach, CA, he talked to a number of her contemporaries, herfamily, and friends to come up with an engaging book that reminds readerswhy Rice remains the undisputed queen of the comedic mystery.