Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, 1 - Paperback

by Sara Gran (Author)

"Delicious and addictive."--Salon.com

Front Jacket

Claire DeWitt is the world's greatest PI, a one-time teen detective in Brooklyn and follower of the enigmatic French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook "Detection" has led Claire to use the "I-Ching, " omens, prophetic dreams, and mind-expanding drugs. Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where she was mentored by the brilliant Constance Darling--until Darling was murdered. When a respected New Orleans DA goes missing during Hurricane Katrina, she returns to her newly wrecked former city to find out why. The clues lead her to Andray Fairview, a young man who had nothing to lose before the storm and has less now. Finding old friends and making new enemies, Claire solves the case, but she's haunted by others gone missing: her best friend and partner in detection, who disappeared from a New York City subway station in 1986, and Jacques Silette's daughter, Belle, stolen from a hotel room and never heard from again. " Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead" is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.

Back Jacket

Delicious and addictive. Salon.com
The book is beautifully written in a tight, quirky style that distinguishes Gran as one of the more original writers working today. Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press
One of the genre s most original characters in years, reads . . . like if David Lynch directed a Raymond Chandler novel. CNN
Claire DeWitt believes she is the world s greatest PI, even if few agree with her. A one-time teen detective in Brooklyn, she is a follower of the esoteric French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook Detection inspired Claire s unusual practices.
Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where she was mentored by Silette s student the brilliant Constance Darling until Darling was murdered. When a respected DA goes missing she returns to the hurricane-ravaged city to find out why. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.
The hard-living, wisecracking titular detective bounces around post-Katrina New Orleans trying to track down a missing prosecutor in this auspicious debut of a new mystery series and the Big Easy is every bit her equal in sass and flavor. Elle
What would you get if that punkish dragon girl Lisbeth Salander met up with Jim Sallis s Lew Griffin walking the back streets of New Orleans? Or Sue Grafton s Kinsey Millhone transformed herself into a tattooed magnolia driving a 4x4? Clare DeWitt, that s what you d get . . . DeWitt s mesmerizing character and memorable voice take your breath away. New Orleans Times-Picayune
Just when I begin to despair that the PI novel has worn out its welcome, a writer with a fresh take reminds me why I fell in love with the genre. Sara Gran has long specialized in shaking up and revitalizing other corners of the genre world, so it s no surprise that she performs this same magic in Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. Laura Lippman
Sara Gran is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, including Come Closer and Dope.

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Author Biography

Sara Gran's previous novels include 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.