A Washington novel, yes–but the senator’s secret CIA-related investment really happened, and so did a deadly building collapse

Washington in the 1970s.

Jon Stone is a Spinoza-inspired reporter with a rationalist’s need to see the world as it is, not as Washington’s elite would print it.

Stone follows a trail of campaign donations, bribes, regulatory favors, and other fixes leading to Seymour Solomon — an ex-bricklayer with two fingertips missing. Now Solomon is a real estate magnate and philanthropist with a gift for making friends in Georgetown and the White House.

When Stone’s father catches wind of the investigation, he wants the story buried. He works for a Solomon-related business, and in D.C. you get ahead by knowing who not to cross.

Then a Solomon high-rise in Northern Virginia collapses, killing hundreds.

The Solomon Scandals is a character-driven Washington thriller about money, duty, friendship, and betrayal — and the ocean between respectability and virtue.

“We get to relish his chatty first-person narrator … the same dark zeal Hammett held for Frisco or Chandler had for Los Angeles.”

— Ted Scheinman, Washington City Paper

About the Author

David H. Rothman’s reporting exposed a U.S. senator’s hidden investment in a CIA-occupied building and helped trigger a congressional investigation.

Related: Solomon Scandals Chatbot: Ask it anything