P.I. Frank Johnson guards his ghastly secret hidden beneath the junked cars left in the remote, laurel-covered ravine decades ago. The town sheriff becomes suspicious of what he is concealing and makes inquiries. After a stakeout on a cheating spouse case, Frank has a few pointed questions for the town sheriff. He meets with her in the hope of reaching a mutually agreeable solution.
Meanwhile, a metal detecting enthusiast searches the ground near the junked cars, much to Frank's chagrin. He makes a plan to divert her away from the junked cars while she is metal detecting. To please his wife, he quits his side gig as a nightclub bouncer and teaches a night class on private investigations at the local community college.
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 [Pabst Blue Ribbon beer] 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."
