James Sallis appeared at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, September 24, and, unfortunately, most of us missed the event. That doesn’t mean you have to miss his latest book. Sarah Jane is the Hot Book of the Week at the bookstore. You can order a signed copy of it, along with other books by Sallis, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2mn23Di
Here’s the summary of Sarah Jane. (Just my opinion, but it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.)
A spare, sparkling tour de force about one woman’s journey to becoming a cop, by master of noir James Sallis, author of Drive.
Sarah Jane Pullman is a good cop with a complicated past. From her small-town chicken-farming roots through her runaway adolescence, court-ordered Army stint, ill-advised marriage and years slinging scrambled eggs over greasy spoon griddles, Sarah Jane unfolds her life story, a parable about memory, atonement, and finding shape in chaos. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she is named the de facto sheriff of a rural town, investigating the mysterious disappearance of the sheriff whose shoes she’s filling—and the even more mysterious realities of the life he was hiding from his own colleagues and closest friends. This kaleidoscopic character study sparkles in every dark and bright detail—a virtuoso work by a master of both the noir and the tender aspects of human nature.