The Haunting Hand: a Mystery of the Silent Screen

Astoria, Queens, 1920s. The silent film studios are booming, and so is everything that thrives in their shadow. When a director secretly procures radium for his latest production, Toreador of Love , he sets something far more dangerous than a picture into motion. Margot discovers this firsthand when a disembodied hand slides from beneath her bed and vanishes without a trace. It won't be the last time. As the hand reappears, so do questions Margot can't afford to ignore. The studio world she thought she knew is layered with illicit dealings, volatile alliances, and people whose careers depend on buried secrets staying buried. The closer she gets to the truth behind the hand, the more she realizes that trust is the most dangerous thing she can offer anyone — and that the investigation may cost her far more than answers. Walter Adolphe Roberts delivers a sharp, atmospheric thriller steeped in the glamour and grit of early Hollywood's East Coast rival, where the real horrors aren't on screen. Read more