Snatch — Ed Lynskey

For his next hardboiled outing, P.I. Frank Johnson takes up investigating to find the vintage 1977 Music Man StingRay bass guitar stolen from the home of his client, Sybil Gleason. She tells him it's an irreplaceable family heirloom that belonged to her grandfather, a local rockabilly musician. His quest takes him to the town's seedy pawnbroker, Frank's favorite barista, and Sybil's wastrel landlord. A corrupt criminal attorney badgers Frank to dig up the dirt on a rape victim to bolster the accuser's defense.Frank balks at accepting a rape case, but the attorney doesn't take no for an answer. As he always does, Frank leans on his long-time friend and business partner, Gerald Peyton; his medical examiner wife, Dreema; and his brilliant but outspoken attorney, Robert Gatlin. While juggling these and his other cases, Frank works long hours to reach a satisfactory resolution for each of his clients.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 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.