by Ace Atkins
Part of Spenser, book 40
First published 2012
Mattie Sullivan stands in Spenser's office with a proposition that stops him cold. The fourteen-year-old wants him to reopen her mother's murder case from four years back. The Boston police closed the file. A man sits in prison for the crime. But Mattie insists they got the wrong guy. She's been raising her younger siblings and caring for her alcoholic grandmother in a crumbling South Boston apartment ever since. Mattie has the kind of grit and determination that Spenser recognizes in himself. She points him toward the neighborhood toughs she saw dragging her mother away the night she died. The Boston PD wants the case left buried. The Southie criminals don't appreciate questions about old business. But as Spenser digs deeper, the evidence starts backing up Mattie's claims. He calls in Hawk for backup as the investigation turns more dangerous than either of them anticipated. Mattie needs the truth about what happened to her mother. Spenser needs to give this tough kid the justice she's been fighting for.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Boston, South Boston
Period: Contemporary
310 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: death