Songs of Innocence

by Richard Aleas

Overview

LITTLE GIRL…FOUND.

Three years ago, detective John Blake solved a mystery that changed his life forever – and left a woman he loved dead.  Now Blake is back, to investigate the apparent suicide of Dorothy Louise Burke, a beautiful college student with a double life.  The secrets Blake uncovers could blow the lid off New York City’s sex trade…if they don’t kill him first.

Richard Aleas’ first novel, LITTLE GIRL LOST, was among the most celebrated crime novels of the year, receiving nominations for both the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Shamus Award.  But nothing in John Blake’s first case could prepare you for the shocking conclusion of his second…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857683892
Publisher:	Titan
Publication date:	03/29/2011
Series:	Hard Case Crime
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	219,370
File size:	930 KB

About the Author

Richard Aleas is the pseudonym of an Edgar and Shamus Award-winning mystery writer and editor whose work has appeared in dozens of publications includingEllery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies such as Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Year’s Best Horror Stories.

Editorial Reviews

Aleas, the pen name for Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai, solidifies his reputation as one of the finer modern hard-boiled writers with his second John Blake novel (following 2004's Little Girl Lost). Blake, a young but already deeply scarred detective, has given up PI work-his last case cost him the life of his lover, and almost that of a dear friend, so Blake has taken a sedate job as an administrative assistant at Columbia University, where he's enrolled in a creative writing class. When a classmate and confidant, Dorothy Burke, dies in her bathtub, the police take one look at the plastic bag over her head and the copy of Final Exitnearby, and declare it a suicide. Dorothy's mother has other ideas and ropes Blake back into his old trade to pursue her suspicions that Dorothy was murdered. Before she died, Dorothy let Blake in on her secret life as a prostitute-information the police don't have-and he pursues that lead deep into New York City's violent underworld. Throughout, Aleas effortlessly channels the spirit of the pulps with crisp prose and an unrelentingly grim plot line, and his powerful conclusion will drop jaws. (July)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

A beautiful, and dead, college student draws Detective John Blake into New York City's sex trade in this sequel to Edgar and Shamus Award nominee Little Girl Lost. Aleas is the pen name of Hard Case Crime creator and editor Charles Ardai. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal