Description: When she agrees to accompany her nephew Jeremy to Chicago's centennial Oz festival, savvy Chicago journalist Cat Marsala is eager to rediscover her childhood passion for L. Frank Baum and all of the joys and surprises that lurk along the Yellow Brick Road. But the festival's magical spell is abruptly broken when Cat witnesses a harrowing scuffle that yields, once the confusion clears, the brutally stabbed corpse of the chief security guard. Cat knows she's not in Kansas anymore. When gunshots ring out, it's clear that someone decidedly more evil than the Wicked Witch is in deadly pursuit. Worst of all, the mounting evidence all points to Cat's brother as the murderer.

Hard Road combines the author's vintage cleverness and skill with timeless insights into the allure of the Oz books. Long celebrated for her knack for laying out "red herrings in a tantalizing puzzle" (Chicago Sun-Times), Barbara D'Amato proves that Cats really do have nine lives, and her son, novelist Brian D'amato, adds an illuminating Afterword on Baum's life and works.

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