by HENNIGAN
First published 2022
Mike Reardon scrubs graffiti from Philadelphia's brick walls by day, tracking the city's fading visual histories. When he discovers an old mural depicting a decades-old unsolved murder, his routine maintenance work transforms into an obsessive investigation. Anonymous threats start arriving, warning him to abandon his research into the neighborhood's forgotten narratives. As Mike connects fragments of local lore with archival photographs and street-level evidence, he realizes the mural represents more than artistic decay—it's a coded message about a generations-old crime that powerful local families want permanently erased. With each layer he uncovers, Mike risks exposing a conspiracy that could rewrite the neighborhood's official history—and potentially endanger his own life. Some stories are painted over for a reason.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-detective, uncovering-the-past
Setting: Philadelphia
Period: 20th-century
180 pages · Paperback · Bluemoose