by Ed Lacy
First published 2005
Toussaint Moore works as a private investigator in New York City when someone frames him for killing a white man. With the police closing in, Moore runs to a small Ohio town near the Kentucky border. He needs to clear his name, but the local attitudes make his job nearly impossible. Moore faces suspicion and hostility at every turn as he searches for evidence to prove his innocence. The investigation forces him to navigate both the mystery of who really committed the murder and the dangerous social landscape of 1950s America. Moore must solve the case before the law catches up with him, all while confronting the prejudices that follow him wherever he goes.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, wrongly-accused
Setting: Kentucky, New York City, Ohio
Period: 1950s
132 pages · Paperback · Disruptive Pub
Content warnings: racism