<DIV>“J. I. Baker takes a bold run into Cain and DeLillo territory and scores.” —Barry Gifford, author of <i>Wild at Heart<br><br> </i>In the early-morning hours of August 5, 1962, Los Angeles County deputy coroner Ben Fitzgerald arrives at the home of the world’s most famous movie star, now lying dead in her bedroom. There he discovers <i>The Book of Secrets</i>—Marilyn Monroe’s diary—revealing a doomed love affair with a man she refers to only as “The General.” In the following days, Ben unravels a cover-up that implicates the Kennedys, the Mafia, and the CIA. Soon the sinister and surreal accounts recorded in <i>The Book </i>bleed into Ben’s own life, and he finds himself trapped—like Monroe—in a deepening paranoid conspiracy. A knockout combination of fact and legend, <i>The Empty Glass</i> is a riveting debut thriller.</div>