Savagely attacked as she lay sleeping on the sofa, Natalie Antonetti's skull was shattered. Bizarrely, she was able to move about her apartment, changed clothes and tried to speak to her son. Her words never came. Two weeks later she was dead. The only lead was a neighbor who claimed to have seen a shadowy figure wielding a child’s baseball bat an hour prior to the attack. Despite a wide search for leads and questioning some suspects, the police were unable to find anyone who matched the description and the case grew cold. Then out of the blue, a woman contacted the police claiming her husband, Dennis Davis, shockingly revealed to her he had killed Natalie. With no DNA, no fingerprints, no eyewitness and two witnesses who refused to testify, former journalist and rookie prosecutor Mark Pryor committed to bring justice to Natalie's family. This, his first homicide case would require him to be a sleuth, investigator and prosecutor all with the deadline nipping at this heels. He vowed to do it. As She Lay Sleeping follows the twisted and often murky criminal investigation all the way to its dramatic courtroom climax in this true crime thriller.
Author
Mark Pryor is a former newspaper reporter from England. He moved to the US in 1995 and subsequently spent 16 years working as a prosecutor with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, in Austin, Texas. He is now a partner at the law firm of Cofer & Connelly, in Austin. His upcoming book DIE AROUND SUNDOWN is the first in a new series of historical mysteries set in Paris during WW2. It will be published August 16, 2022, by St. Martin's/Minotaur. Mark is also the author of the Hugo Marston mystery series, set in Paris, London, and Barcelona. The first in the series, THE BOOKSELLER, was a Library Journal Debut of the Month, and called "unputdownable" by Oprah.com, and the series has been featured in the New York Times. Mark also wrote the psychological thrillers, HOLLOW MAN, and its sequel, DOMINIC. As a prosecutor, he has appeared on CBS News' 48 Hours and Discovery Channel's Discovery ID: Cold Blood. Of his books, reviewers said: "[G]ood character development, increasing levels of action and suspense, a complex and deranged antagonist, and—once again—appealing Paris settings. The Hugo Marston series now belongs on every espionage fan's watch list." —Booklist "Haunting imagery in Père La Chaise cemetery sets the stage for Pryor's chilling sophomore entry, and the City of Light becomes a backdrop for Marston's adventures. The clever antagonist leads him on a merry chase that will keep the reader entertained throughout." —RT Book Reviews "Two young lovers make the fatal mistake of sneaking into Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery the same night as a bone-stealing psychopath in Pryor's propulsive second novel starring affable former FBI profiler Hugo Marston.... The engaging characters sweep readers into a suspenseful chase from Pigalle to the Pyrenées." —Publishers Weekly The third Hugo Marston novel, THE BLOOD PROMISE, was released in January 2014. It may be his best yet... "Mark Pryor is one of the smartest new writers on the block. His new novel is a doozy." —Philip Kerr, author of A Man Without Breath, a Bernie Gunther novel "Pryor seems to have hit his stride in this series, as he adroitly juxtaposes the light banter between Marston and Green with some scenes of intense emotion.... And, all the while, the suspense ramps up. Top-notch mystery in a skillfully delineated Parisian setting." —Booklist Mark is also the author of the true crime book, AS SHE LAY SLEEPING, which is the account of a "cold" murder case he prosecuted. Published in January 2013, Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review and called it "compelling" and "riveting."
