A Novel
by Sara Gran
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2011
288 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Claire DeWitt is not your average private investigator. She has brilliant deductive skills and is an ace at discovering evidence. But Claire also uses her dreams, omens, and mind-expanding herbs to help her solve mysteries, and relies on Détection - the only book published by the late, great, and mysterious French detective Jacques Silette.
The tattooed, pot-smoking Claire has just arrived in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city she's avoided since her mentor, Silette's student Constance Darling, was murdered there. Claire is investigating the disappearance of Vic Willing, a prosecutor known for winning convictions in a homicide- plagued city. Has an angry criminal enacted revenge on Vic? Or did he use the storm as a means to disappear? Claire follows the clues, finding old friends and making new enemies — foremost among them Andray Fairview, a young gang member who just might hold the key to the mystery.
Littered with memories of Claire's years as a girl detective in 1980s Brooklyn, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.
"Starred Review. Captivating... The haunting atmosphere of post-Katrina New Orleans lingers long after the revelation of Vic's fate." - Publishers Weekly
"If there isn't yet a subgenre called funky noir, this wacky PI novel could be a fragrant first... lots of fun." - Booklist
"Starred Review. This is not to be missed - Claire is a moody, hip, and meticulous investigator. Gran builds an addictive sense of anticipation with a fantastical frame." - Library Journal
"[Gran] provides... a comically self-important detective and a searing portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans." - Kirkus Reviews
"Terrific. I love this book! Absolutely love it. This is the first fresh literary voice I've heard in years. Sara Gran recombines all the elements of good, solid story-telling and lifts something original from a well-loved form." - Sue Grafton
This information about Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sara Gran is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, including Come Closer, a psychological thriller hailed as "hypnotic, disturbing...Genuinely scary" (Bret Easton Ellis), and Dope ("highly recommended," Lee Child). A former bookseller and native of Brooklyn who lived in New Orleans during Katrina, she now lives in Northern California. You can learn more about her at her website: http://www.saragran.com/.
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