Marcia Richardson was found slumped over a set of galley proofs on a Tuesday morning in mid-July. She had been dead at least twelve hours, the police estimated, shot twice through the head at close range by a .22 revolver. Although her fingers had been wrapped around the gun in a clumsy attempt to make the death look like suicide, there was little doubt she had been murdered.
Marcia was editorial director of the Readers' Circle, which ranks with Book-of-the-Month Club and the Literary Guild as one of the Big Three in book clubs. In the small, interconnected world of New York publishing, Marcia's death set off shock waves.