The first entry in a gritty, endlessly surprising mystery series follows the unpredictable, tough-edged, and brilliantly intuitive PI Claire DeWitt as she searches for a prosecutor who's gone missing in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Despite her almost-psychic abilities of deduction, hard-drinking Claire is a spiritual heir of Philip Marlowe and other loners solving cold-hearted crimes in warm climates ... Sara Gran (Dope) wrote urban noir before turning to mystery, and her descriptions of dead-eyed teen drug dealers in matching white tanks and baggy jeans have the precision of HBO's The Wire.
As the plot twists, you feel like Claire is always one step ahead, understanding each clue’s depth before you can put the pieces together. The mystery of Vic Willing’s disappearance pulls you in, but Gran’s enticing characters will keep you hooked. This is a page-turner with an unexpected ending that will leave readers wondering what is just around the corner for Claire DeWitt and her unlikely crew of accomplices.
But as intriguing as the plot may be, this is mainly a powerfully character-driven story ... And that entire backstory is what makes the book truly special. Through a series of flashbacks the reader learns about Claire and her amazing cast of characters ... Silette, Kelly, Tracy, Constance, Claire herself, and others come bursting alive from the pages, as the book explodes with mystical wisdom and insight (some readers might disagree) as well as irresistible possibilities for sequels ... Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a highly original, refreshing, sometimes humorous, often ironic mystery, with an intriguing and involved plot and even more fascinating backstories and future possibilities
