Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Ashley Cordova, 24, Found Dead

Ashley Cordova, 24, Found Dead Published: October 13, 2011 by Charles Dunbar

Photograph courtesy of K&M Recording

A body that was found in a vacant Chinatown warehouse late Wednesday was identified by the city medical examiner yesterday as that of Ashley Cordova, daughter of the Academy-Award winning American film director, Stanislas Cordova. She was 24. The cause of death has not yet been determined, but the police are investigating reports that Ms. Cordova, who reportedly had a history of depression, committed suicide by jumping into an out-of-service elevator shaft, said Hector J. Marcos, the chief spokesman for the city medical examiner’s office. Ms. Cordova was a classical pianist and former child prodigy. She made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 12, playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Cordova retreated from music at age 14, declining further recitals, tours, and public appearances. She was raised at The Peak, her father’s vast, private Adirondack estate, which served as the setting for many of Cordova’s films, including his 1979 psychological thriller, ―Thumbscrew.‖ Ms. Cordova graduated from Amherst College in 2009. Unlike her half-brother, Theo Cordova, who frequently acted in his father’s films, Ashley appeared only once, playing the youngest of the Stevens children in ―To Breathe with Kings‖ (1996), adapted from the novel by August Hauer. The Cordova family could not be reached for comment.

Night Film BY MARISHA PESSL

On a damp October night, the body of young, beautiful Ashley Cordova is found in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. By all appearances her death is a suicide—but investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. Though much has been written about the dark and unsettling films of Ashley's father, Stanislas Cordova, very little is known about the man himself. As McGrath pieces together the mystery of Ashley's death, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the dark underbelly of New York City and the twisted world of Stanislas Cordova, and he begins to wonder—is he the next victim? In this novel, the dazzlingly inventive writer Marisha Pessl offers a breathtaking mystery that will hold you in suspense until the last page is turned. Buy a copy of Night Film – on sale August 20, 2013!

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Excerpted from Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Copyright © 2013 by Marisha Pessl. Excerpted by permission of Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.