
Edgar Award-winner
Bruce DeSilva returns with Liam Mulligan, an old-school investigative
reporter for a dying newspaper in Providence, Rhode Island. Mulligan
knows every street and alley, every priest and prostitute, every cop and
street thug. He knows the mobsters and politicians—who are pretty much
one and the same.
Inspired by a true story, Providence Rag
finds Mulligan, his pal Mason, and the newspaper they both work for at
an ethical crossroad. The youngest serial killer in history butchered
five of his neighbors before he was old enough to drive. When he was
caught eighteen years ago, Rhode Island's antiquated criminal
statutes—never intended for someone like him—required that all
juveniles, no matter their crimes, be released at age twenty-one. The
killer is still behind bars, serving time for crimes supposedly
committed on the inside. That these charges were fabricated is an open
secret; but nearly everyone is fine with it—if the monster ever gets out
more people will surely die. But Mason is not fine with it. If
officials can get away with framing this killer they could do it to
anybody. As Mason sets out to prove officials are perverting the
justice system, Mulligan searches frantically for some legal way to keep
the monster behind bars. The dueling investigations pit the friends
against each other in a high-stakes race against time—and snares them in
an ethical dilemma that has no right answer.
Providence Rag is a gripping novel of suspense by one of the rising talents in the mystery field.
BRUCE DeSILVA spent forty-one years as a journalist before writing Rogue Island, his first novel, which won the 2011 Edgar and Macavity Awards for Best First Novel.
“Edgar-winner DeSilva melds moral dilemmas with a suspenseful plot in his third novel featuring Providence, R.I.–based reporter Liam Mulligan (after 2012’s Cliff Walk), his best yet.” – Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review
