P.I. Frank Johnson accepts another cold case homicide, this time from a former high school classmate named Stevie Palmer. Her husband, Troy, was shot to death ("double Moe Greene Special") on their front porch on an October morning nearly a year ago. The town sheriff has made little progress in investigating Troy's murder, so Stevie seeks Frank's help.
Frank quickly identifies Dash Lemay, Troy's boss and former high school football star, as the primary suspect. However, proving it is more difficult, time-consuming, and risky. As he always does, Frank enlists the help of his long-time friend and business partner, Gerald Peyton; his medical examiner wife, Dreema; and his brilliant and outspoken attorney, Robert Gatlin.
Critically acclaimed crime novelist James Crumley endorsed the P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series in 2008. "With a plot as complex as your grandmother's crocheted doilies, Mr. Lynskey creates a portrait of the rural hill country that rings as true as the clank of a Copenhagen can on a PBR can, as does his handle on guns, love, and betrayal. This novel is well worth the read and makes me want more."
#1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins states, "Ed Lynskey's P.I. Frank Johnson's books are as hard-bitten and hard-boiled as they come. The dialogue crackles with such sharpness that you'd swear sparks were jumping off the pages. And P.I. Frank Johnson is a character cut from the Tarantino mold: tough, wounded, conflicted, and badass."
New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award-winning author Megan Abbott writes the P.I. Frank Johnson mystery series, which "bears the richest nicotine and bourbon stains of the hardboiled genre, yet also bristles with vitality. The plot sings, the characters are twisty and textured, and the violence is brutal but inevitable. These elements would be more than enough, yet Ed Lynskey offers so much more in the form of a perfectly pitched prose style that swings effortlessly from back-country grit to Appalachian poetry and back again."
