New York, NY: WW Norton (2015)

First Edition. Signed.

As new in dust jacket.

On the eve of Atlanta's 1881 International Cotton Exposition, disgraced former detective Thomas Canby is called back to the city to track a serial murderer who seems to be targeting its wealthiest black entrepreneurs.

The killer's method is both strange and unusually gruesome: on each victim's body, a letter of the alphabet is inscribed. Intent on shielding the city's celebration of New South industry, its most prominent businessmen the Ring pressure Canby to tie up the case.

Paired with Atlanta's first African American officer, Cyrus Underwood, Canby must face down enduring racism, and his own prejudices, to see clearly the source of these bloody crimes. Meanwhile, if he can restore his reputation, he might win back the woman he loves. With scrupulous attention to historical detail, Edgar Award finalist Matthew Guinn draws readers into a vortex of tense, atmospheric storytelling, confronting the sins and fears of both old South and new.