A TV journalist investigating a twenty year-old cold case.
An FBI agent lured out of retirement to go undercover...
"Excellent...Donlea tells a propulsive tale."
—The New York Times
Accused of a brutal murder, Victoria Ford made a final chilling call from the North Tower on the morning of 9/11. Twenty years ago, no one listened. Today, everyone will...
Twenty Years Later
In this gripping, fast-paced new standalone thriller from USA Today, IndieBound, and #1 internationally bestselling author Charlie Donlea, a TV news host sets out to uncover the truth behind a gruesome tale of sex, betrayal, and murder twenty years after the investigation was abandoned in the wake of 9/11.
Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows the subjects that grab a TV audience’s attention. Her latest story—a murder mystery laced with sex, tragedy, and betrayal—is guaranteed to be ratings gold. New DNA technology has allowed the New
York medical examiner’s office to make its first successful identification of a 9/11 victim in years. The twist: the victim, Victoria Ford, had been accused of the gruesome murder of her married lover. In a chilling last call from the North Tower, Victoria begged her sister, Emma, to prove her innocence.
Emma Kind has waited twenty years to put her sister to rest, but closure won’t be complete until she can clear Victoria’s name. Alone she’s had no luck, but she’s convinced that Avery’s connections and fame will help. Avery, hoping to negotiate a more lucrative network contract, goes into investigative overdrive. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist, found hanging from the balcony of his Catskills mansion. The rope, the bedroom, and the entire crime scene was covered in Victoria’s DNA. But the twisted puzzle of Victoria’s private life belies a much darker mystery Avery is determined to uncover. But what Avery doesn't realize is that there are other players in the game—including an FBI agent recruited out of retirement to go undercover—who are interested in Avery’s own secret past, one she has kept hidden from both the network executives and her television audience. A secret she thought was dead and buried...
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INSPIRATION
In TWENTY YEARS LATER, FBI agent Walt Jenkins is lured out of retirement to go undercover and spy on a television journalist who the Feds believe is hiding secrets. Walt has spent the last three years as a recluse in Jamaica after a messy exit from the FBI. He's enjoying a drink at Rick's Cafe, watching the locals dive from towering trees, when his old Bureau boss shows up with an offer he can't refuse...
This is a video of my time at Rick's Cafe in Jamaica, which inspired part of the setting for TWENTY YEARS LATER.
This is my own daring attempt at cliff diving at Rick's Cafe in Jamaica...
INTERVIEW
Listen to Charlie Donlea’s interview with David McClean about writing Twenty Years Later
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