The Golden Gate

A Novel

Amy Chua

- 4.0 • 23 Ratings

- $14.99

- $14.99

Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.

In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.

The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth—not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China's First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings—Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.

Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

A cop’s hidden past colors the hunt for a killer in this moody historical mystery. For homicide detective Al Sullivan, evidence on the scene of the 1944 assassination of presidential candidate and industrialist Walter Wilkinson is oddly reminiscent of another case—the murder, 10 years earlier, of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a young member of the uber-wealthy Bainbridge family. As Sullivan works the case and revisits the powerful Bainbridges, he soon finds that the investigation is packed full of questions about race, class, and even international affairs. Amy Chua creates a captivating World War II–era whodunit that often feels like a classic noir film. From personal loyalties to mercenary motives, each character brings their own fascinating flaws and complexities to the table. If you enjoy the classic works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, you’ll love The Golden Gate.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUL 3, 2023

The thrilling fiction debut from Yale law professor Chua (World on Fire) anchors a mind-bending murder mystery in the social turbulence of 1944 Berkeley, Calif. A report of gunfire brings police detective Al Sullivan to room 604 of the luxurious Claremont hotel. Inside, he finds William Wilkinson, a rich industrialist with political aspirations, unharmed. Everything—save the bullet hole in the wall—seems perfectly normal. When a hotel employee tells Wilkinson, "We thought you'd been murdered," he enigmatically replies, "I have been." A few hours later, Wilkinson is, indeed, found dead, and Sullivan launches an official investigation. Early evidence points to the three beautiful granddaughters of wealthy socialite Genevieve Hopkins Bainbridge, whose youngest sister, Iris, happened to be murdered in the same hotel room a decade earlier. The story alternates between Genevieve's deposition and detective Sullivan's first-person narration, with sly, Rashomon-style changes in interpretation accompanying each shift in perspective. Chua seeds the novel with fascinating nuggets of California history and real-life figures, including Margaret Chung, the first Chinese woman to become a physician in the United States. The result is a richly satisfying historical mystery that draws on its setting for more than mere atmosphere.

GENRE