The Dread Line

Edgar Award–Winning Author: “[A] smart twisty plot . . . Mulligan is a Hall of Fame P.I. who’d fit comfortably between Marlowe, Spade, and Easy Rawlins.” —Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times–bestselling author of Sleepless City

Since he got fired in spectacular fashion from his newspaper job, former investigative reporter Liam Mulligan has been piecing together a new life in Providence, Rhode Island—one that straddles both sides of the law. He’s getting some part-time work from his friend McCracken’s detective agency. He’s picking up beer money by freelancing for a local news website. And he’s looking after his semi-retired mobster friend’s bookmaking business.

But Mulligan still manages to find trouble. He’s feuding with a cat that keeps leaving its kills on his porch. He’s obsessed with a baffling jewelry heist. And he’s enraged that someone in town is torturing animals. It’s all distracting him from a big case that needs his full attention: The New England Patriots, shaken by a series of murder charges against a star player, have hired Mulligan and McCracken to investigate the background of a college athlete they’re thinking of drafting. At first, the job seems routine, but as soon as they begin asking questions, they get pushback. The player, it seems, has something to hide—and someone is willing to kill to make sure it remains secret . . .

“If you like your heroes hardboiled (but with a heart of gold), you’re in luck.” —S.J. Rozan, Edgar Award–winning author of The Mayors of New York

“Superb . . . a classic of postmodern crime noir.” —The Providence Journal