The Evil That Men Do: A Jackson Donne Novel

Even generations later, you can't escape. . .the evil that men do.

Stripped of his private investigators license and slumming it as a night security guard at a Jersey storage facility, Jackson Donne thinks hes finally hit rock bottom. Then the bottom really falls out: The sister he hasnt seen in years shows up, needing help.

Turns out Donnes Alzheimers-stricken mother has begun hinting at long-buried family secrets from her hospital bed, suggesting a sinister–even murderous–past. Meanwhile, Donnes relatives are suddenly being greeted by blackmail, car bombs, and bullets to the back of the skull.

All Donne wants is to disappear–preferably into a nice frosty pint glass–but he soon realizes that his only chance at saving his family, and himself, is by solving a mystery more than sixty years old. Now he needs to figure out how a hit man, crooked cops, corrupt politics, a kidnapping, and the city of Bayonne all fit together. Hell discover that old family secrets still have the power to kill in this razor-sharp PI story that makes classic noir new again.

"White's stunning second crime novel to feature ex-cop and ex-PI Jackson Donne fulfills the promise of his debut, When One Man Dies (2007). Restaurateur Franklin Carter, Donne's obnoxious but rich brother-in-law, hires him to investigate Donne's mother's claims that his grandfather murdered someone. Since Donne's mother is suffering from dementia, the detective has his work cut out for him, even before someone bombs Carter's New York City restaurant and later abducts Carter. When Donne becomes a suspect after his elderly aunt and uncle are gunned down in their quiet New Jersey home, he must ally himself with a sympathetic cop to gain any traction in the case. Readers will readily forgive a major coincidence at the heart of the plot because the author does such a fine job of depicting the inner conflicts of his fallible but ultimately heroic protagonist. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

From one of the most acclaimed young voices in crime fiction comes the gripping second novel featuring New Jersey P.I. Jackson Donne.

DAVE WHITE, born in 1979, is among the youngest winners of the Derringer Award. He has contributed to many anthologies and collections, including The Adventure of the Missing Detective and Damn Near Dead. His first novel, When One Man Dies, was published in 2007. Dave lives in New Jersey, where he teaches middle-school English.