Publisher's Synopsis
DEATH HAS A THOUSAND DOORS is set in the little-known Pyrenean country of Andorra in the late 1990s. Family complications abound. Jane Burns, an Australian accountant, is a recovering alcoholic with a troubled past. When she receives a letter inviting her to visit Andorra for the winding-up of her grandfather's multi-million dollar trust, she jumps at the opportunity to leave her humdrum life and troubles behind. She expects to stay with her half-sister, Pearl, a photo journalist who moved to Andorra to escape an abusive marriage, but on her arrival Pearl is missing without explanation. The only clue to her whereabouts is an unlikely welcoming gift to Jane of a bottle of champagne.Jane and Pearl's father, Charles, an aloof historian, becomes Jane's ally in the search for Pearl. In a twisted web starting from the founding of the family trust after the Second World War, and involving financial misdoings, kidnapping and tobacco-smuggling, Jane and Charles try to discover which threads will lead them to Pearl, and which are simply the detritus of her daily life as an investigative journalist. On the way, Jane meets a sympathetic village policeman. She also meets Pearl's lover, a prominent Andorran politician. But are these two men helping or hindering the investigation?"We travel through the mountains, villages and history of Andorra, through the histories and stories of its characters, as a family comes together to search for its missing sister and daughter. - An irresistable suspenseful read from start to finish."- Rebecca Tomasis, author of Mishpacha-Family (International Proverse Prize Joint-Winner 2009)"The works of English speakers who came to visit Andorra in the last two centuries are an essential part of our literary heritage. Patricia W. Grey's book is a step forward, a new milestone. From the premises of contemporary fiction she offers us a new perspective of our little world, so close, so complex, so unknown."- Albert Villaró, Andorran writer, author of Blau de Prússia (Carlemany prize 2006)
