by Alex Segura
First published 2019
Pete Fernandez has rebuilt his life after nearly dying a year ago. He runs a bookstore during the day and takes private eye cases at night in Miami. Sober and stable, Pete watches life move around him, including his old flame getting engaged to someone else. An elderly Cuban mobster approaches Pete with a job. The man wants Pete to discover who murdered his son, a drug-addicted jazz pianist, and to track down his missing daughter-in-law. Pete refuses the case initially. Then another corpse appears. This new death suggests the pianist's murder connects to the same people who almost killed Pete. The investigation threatens to expose a dangerous secret buried in Pete's own murky history. Pete must decide whether solving this case is worth risking the new life he has carefully constructed.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Cuba, Miami
Period: 21st-century
336 pages · Hardcover · Polis Books
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use