First published 2012
Dr. Hugh Denismore takes his mother's Cadillac from Los Angeles to Phoenix, a routine drive that should be simple for an educated young physician. But old memories surface when he spots redneck teenagers on the road. Against his better judgment, he stops for a disheveled girl hitchhiking through the desert. Days later, police find her body in Arizona. Hugh becomes their prime suspect. The investigation closes in around him as he struggles to prove his innocence. His privileged background should protect him, yet something deeper makes him vulnerable. The case forces him to confront why a few teenagers could unnerve him so completely. Hughes strips away the surface of mid-century American prosperity to reveal the rot underneath. The wrong man narrative becomes something more unsettling as readers discover the true nature of Hugh's expendability.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator, wrong-man
Setting: Arizona, Los Angeles, Phoenix
Period: Mid-Century
254 pages · Paperback · Literary Licensing, LLC