by James Sallis
First published 2012
Lew Griffin has walked away from his detective career. He sits in his Garden District home in New Orleans, turning his troubled past into stories. He writes instead of investigating. Then a close friend dies, and Griffin learns something that changes everything. His friend had a daughter who has run away, a daughter Griffin never knew existed. Griffin returns to the streets he once knew so well. He searches through New Orleans and into the rural South, places he left behind years ago. The investigation forces him to confront more than just a missing girl. He must face memories of his parents that he has buried. He must also reckon with his relationship with his own son, who has disappeared from his life. Griffin realizes how little we truly know about the people closest to us. The search becomes a journey through violence and compassion, through the urban landscape he mastered and the rural world he escaped.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, missing-person, redemption, second-chance
Setting: Garden District, New Orleans, Rural South
Period: Contemporary
255 pages · Paperback · No Exit
Content warnings: violence