Grits — Ed Lynskey

For his next hardboiled outing, P.I. Frank Johnson accepts the cold case homicide of Grits Wigfall, a 55-year-old Black man, in his hometown of Pelham, Virginia. Grits works as the front counterman at the new auto parts store for his boss, who becomes a homicide suspect. His girlfriend and a local white extremist are also suspects. Frank sets out to solve the murder case in 24 hours. Of course, nothing is as it appears on the surface in his murky noirish crime world. Simple things become complicated and messy affairs, where more violence and mayhem come into play. As Frank probes deeper into Grits' murder, he relies on his long-time friend and business partner Gerald Peyton, his medical examiner wife Dreema, and his brilliant but outspoken attorney Robert Gatlin. The harrowing climactic scene takes place on a seedy, smoky riverboat casino where Frank refuses to back off until he gets the answers he seeks. Critically acclaimed crime novelist James Crumley endorsed the P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series. 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-winner Megan Abbott writes the P.I. Frank Johnson mystery series 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. All of 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.