The Divide: A Novel

A failed actress turned grifting psychic searches for her missing doppelgänger and is plunged into a web of murder and corruption among Hollywood A-listers. "Weird and wonderfully addictive—reads like Agatha Christie on acid, or maybe Raymond Chandler adapted by the Coen Brothers." —Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Ready Player One When Jenny St. John was eighteen, she moved to Los Angeles from her rural midwestern hometown and scored the lead role in an independent film called The Divide. Under the intimate direction of young auteur Serge Grumet, Jenny was on her way to becoming the next indie darling. But then the movie tanked, and Jenny never caught a second break. Now, two decades later, after floundering on the fringes of the entertainment industry, she’s barely keeping afloat running a low-level grift as a psychic life coach. But when news surfaces that Serge has been murdered, Jenny’s life is turned upside down. Unbeknownst to Jenny, Serge’s ex-wife, painter Gena Santos, looks alarmingly similar to Jenny. So much so that when Gena goes missing, the cops think Jenny is Gena. Jenny finds herself pulled into Gena’s world and manages to leverage both her resemblance to Gena and her faux psychic abilities to infiltrate the affluent yet unstable inner circle of friends, which include a Korean pop idol–turned–social media star and an Oscar-winning actress–turned–wellness guru. Soon Jenny’s search to find Gena unearths dark secrets about her own past while putting her squarely in the sights of a killer.

About the Author :
MORGAN RICHTER is a graduate of the Filmic Writing program at the University of Southern California’s film school and has worked in production on several television shows, including ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos and E! Entertainment Television’s Emmy-winning comedy series Talk Soup. An avid popular culture critic, she is the author of Duranalysis: Essays on the Duran Duran Experience and has amassed a cult following on her analyses of classic Duran Duran videos. She has self-published five novels, but The Divide is her first foray into traditional publishing. Richter currently lives in Seattle.

Review :
"A wild ride of a novel. . . . Richter , an industry veteran and pop culture critic, writes with the energy of a freshly charged battery, full of bright sparks, quick wit and vivid color." —Sarah Weinman, The New York Times "Ms. Richter’s novel starts as an offbeat mystery and turns into an emotional tour de force. The redoubtable Jenny strives to redeem her disappointing life by accomplishing something exceptional. Darned if she doesn’t do just that." —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal "A riveting neo-noir thriller about mistaken identity and what it means to live and die in LA. Weird and wonderfully addictive—reads like Agatha Christie on acid, or maybe Raymond Chandler adapted by the Coen Brothers." —Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Ready Player One “In the utterly refreshing THE DIVIDE, a slightly grifty ‘intuitive’ life coach finds herself at the center of this devilishly clever mystery. Morgan Richter uses her fresh voice and a modern noir vibe to bring Jenny St. John and Los Angeles to life. A slow burn you won’t be able to put down.” —Alafair Burke, New York Times best-selling author of Find Me "Richter’s novel moves and reads quickly without feeling rushed, paced like a brisk ninety-minute film noir that focuses more on character than convoluted plots. . . . The Divide has echoes of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled novels mixed with the humor and warmness of Psych—with a touch of Otto Preminger’s Laura to keep things interesting. . . . A soul-searching novel, using its “whodunit” plot to probe about the “what-ifs” in life that define a person’s trajectory." —Las Vegas Review of Books "An ingenious tale of intrigue, deception and doppelgängers, Morgan Richter’s The Divide is utterly absorbing and completely original. This deviously sharp, sublimely strange modern-day noir took me hostage and wouldn’t let me go until I’d devoured every last delicious word!" —Katherine Wood, author of Ladykiller "[In] The Divide a murder mystery mixes with an enthralling tangle of identity, trauma, and an exploration of art versus commerce. . . . More than a simple whodunit. Richter wraps the mystery in a cat-and-mouse game of memory versus truth, and readers won't be sure they've uncovered who is who until the very end." —Nina Semczuk, Shelf Awareness "Absorbing. . . pure LA noir." —Booklist "An actor turned psychic stumbles into the center of an LAPD murder investigation in Richter’s winningly offbeat debut...Richter comes through with sparkling prose, a consistently surprising mystery, and an engrossing portrait of contemporary Los Angeles. Fans of Hollywood neo-noir will relish this fresh update on an old formula." —Publishers Weekly "It’s so unusual to find a murder mystery novel that grapples so thoughtfully with these questions of fate, identity, and the paths not taken. . . . A gripping tale of LA noir . . . [and] a surprisingly wistful examination of the way that certain decisions can cause our life paths to diverge." —Doreen Sheridan, Criminal Element