by Kem Nunn
First published 2013
Earl Dean sells vacuum cleaners door to door in a southern California barrio. The night air reeks. He doubts anyone wants to buy what he's selling. A distant porch light draws him forward into trouble he never saw coming. Dan Brown's brother is dead. Dan plans to settle the score himself. Earl has walked straight into the middle of it. Dan rides with the last road warriors, a killer on two wheels who lives by breaking every rule. But Buddy Brown isn't the only corpse under the moonlight. The San Gabriel Valley once bloomed with orange groves that fed the nation's citrus trade. Now the land lies barren and poisoned. Earl owns the final acre of orange trees left in Pomona. His great-grandfather planted this grove decades ago. Earl must step up and claim what belongs to him by blood and birthright.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, revenge
Setting: Pomona, San Gabriel Valley, Southern California
Period: 20th Century
240 pages · Kindle Edition · Scribner
Content warnings: violence