Beyond the Bridge

In the summer of 1959, Sam Stanton, co-owner of one of the Santa Clara Valley's most successful fruit-growing processors, either did or did not jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Either way, his car is found abandoned on the bridge. At first, the possibility of an elaborate kidnapping scheme seems likely. After all, he's worth millions—and why would a man who has everything willingly take his own life? But neither his wife, Carolyn, nor the company receives a ransom demand. And no body washes ashore. After a time, with no evidence to suggest otherwise, the court declares Sam legally deceased. Insurance claims are paid.

Despite an onslaught of frustrating crank calls reporting sightings of Sam in one corner of the world or another, Carolyn secretly maintains hope that he will be found alive. Finally, she receives a believable tip from friends living in Naples, Italy. Unable to resist, Carolyn begins a search that takes her on a wild, sometimes frightening chase—to rescue her childhood sweetheart and the father of her young children. What she finds will break your heart.

This story was inspired by a real case of a real family—and a real woman who received a believable report of her missing husband. Author Marcia Mitchell explores what might have happened if that woman had gone looking, in her favorite real-life setting, mid-century Italy.

Marcia Mitchell served as Secretary of Labor for the State of South Dakota, a senior manager for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Associate Director of The American Film Institute; she also has written and published nonfiction in various genres throughout her career. Thomas Mitchell was an FBI agent for seventeen years, specializing in intelligence and counterintelligence work, before becoming Vice President for Government Affairs for the Georgia-Pacific Corporation. The couple was inspired to investigate and write nonfiction in the counterespionage genre when Tom first told Marcia his account of working on the Judith Coplon case in the 1940s and 50s. They also collaborated on the 2008 volume The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion—which inspired the 2019 feature-length film Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley.

After Tom’s death in 2010, Marcia continued her research and writing; their collaborative spy projects inspired a fictional series—featuring Maggie Sachet, a quirky FBI agent whose globe-trotting adventures to solve murders were vetted by real FBI agents for accuracy. Marcia is also the author of another upcoming novel, Beyond the Bridge, along with several previously published works of nonfiction, including Cosmetics from the Kitchen, Management Strategies for Women, and Raindance to Research.