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Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

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Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead Cover

ISBN13: 9780547428499
ISBN10: 0547428499
All Product Details

 

Staff Pick

In the first installment of a quirky and brilliant new series by Sara Gran, we meet hard-living, off-beat, pot-smoking, psychic ace detective Claire DeWitt as she returns to post-Katrina New Orleans. Gran captures the city in all its beauty and sadness and DeWitt is a deeply compelling, original heroine.
Recommended by Kathi, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Claire DeWitt is not your average private investigator. She has brilliant deductive skills and is an ace at discovering evidence. But Claire also uses her dreams, omens, and mind-expanding herbs to help her solve mysteries, and relies on Détection — the only book published by the late, great, and mysterious French detective Jacques Silette.

The tattooed, pot-smoking Claire has just arrived in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city she's avoided since her mentor, Silette's student Constance Darling, was murdered there. Claire is investigating the disappearance of Vic Willing, a prosecutor known for winning convictions in a homicide- plagued city. Has an angry criminal enacted revenge on Vic? Or did he use the storm as a means to disappear? Claire follows the clues, finding old friends and making new enemies — foremost among them Andray Fairview, a young gang member who just might hold the key to the mystery.

Littered with memories of Claire's years as a girl detective in 1980s Brooklyn, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.

Review:

"In this captivating first in a projected series from Gran (Dope), PI Claire DeWitt comes to New Orleans to help a client, Leon Salvatore, find his ADA uncle, Vic Willing, who went missing at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Claire relies often on the 'maddening... notoriously difficult' Détection by legendary French detective Jacques Silette ('No one is innocent. The only question is How will you bear your portion of guilt?') as well as her dreams for guidance. In one dream, Vic tells her, in language that echoes Silette's handbook, to: 'Follow the clues.... Believe nothing. Question everything.' Suspicion falls on an 18-year-old career-criminal-in-the-making, Andray Fairview, who once worked for Vic and broke into his house. Claire is soon sucked into the underbelly of a city gasping for air. The haunting atmosphere of post-Katrina New Orleans lingers long after the revelation of Vic's fate. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review:

"Terrific. I love this book! Absolutely love it. This is the first fresh literary voice I've heard in years. Sara Gran recombines all the elements of good, solid story-telling and lifts something original from a well-loved form." Sue Grafton

Review:

"I just burned through Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, and it's the first truly fantastic book I've read this year. Gran's evocation of the exposed wounds of New Orleans — before and after the storm — is a master-class in descriptive and emotive writing, and Claire is one of the most exciting new characters in years; a Raymond Chandler heroine with just enough of an off-beat vibe to tilt the whole thing enticingly off-kilter. Everything here — from the smallest touches to the grander mythology setting the tone of the series — just sings." Drew Williams, Little Professor Book Center

Review:

"Gran (Dope, 2006, etc.) provides an adequate mystery, a comically self-important detective and a searing portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans." Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

The first book in an exciting new mystery series featuring Claire DeWitt, the world's most eccentric private investigator.
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About the Author

Sara Gran is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, Come Closer, a psychological thriller hailed as "hypnotic, disturbing...Genuinely scary" (Bret Easton Ellis), and Dope, a noir homage. A former bookseller and native of Brooklyn, she now lives in Northern California.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
monicabee, January 1, 2012 (view all comments by monicabee)
My copy of this book came in a bright yellow jacket, but the content and its flawed protagonist are dark and a little unsettling. If you like mysteries, or if you like female detective stories, or if you like New Orleans, read this. If you like all three mixed in with a bit of social commentary--put it at the top of your list. Post-Katrina New Orleans receives a stark treatment, and this book is a heady mix of depression, humor, humanity and confusion. In other words, a nice slice of life story. I loved it, and hope the promise of it being the start of a series is true.
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Penni4, September 26, 2011 (view all comments by Penni4)
The Publisher Comments pretty much say it all. Being I gave it four stars it's safe to say I liked this book. The characters were gritty, the story was easy to follow and the scenery was easy to visualize. It's a mystery, but you will not get lost. Overall it's a good easy read.
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Kricia Ruano Espinoza, September 2, 2011 (view all comments by Kricia Ruano Espinoza)
Really good book, especially if you like mystery, then this, is your book.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780547428499
Author:
Gran, Sara
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Subject:
New Orleans (La.)
Subject:
General
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
20110602
Binding:
Hardback
Language:
English
Pages:
288
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in 1 lb
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Related Subjects

Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » A to Z

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead New Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$24.00 In Stock
Product details 288 pages Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - English 9780547428499 Reviews:
"Staff Pick" by ,

In the first installment of a quirky and brilliant new series by Sara Gran, we meet hard-living, off-beat, pot-smoking, psychic ace detective Claire DeWitt as she returns to post-Katrina New Orleans. Gran captures the city in all its beauty and sadness and DeWitt is a deeply compelling, original heroine.

by Kathi
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "In this captivating first in a projected series from Gran (Dope), PI Claire DeWitt comes to New Orleans to help a client, Leon Salvatore, find his ADA uncle, Vic Willing, who went missing at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Claire relies often on the 'maddening... notoriously difficult' Détection by legendary French detective Jacques Silette ('No one is innocent. The only question is How will you bear your portion of guilt?') as well as her dreams for guidance. In one dream, Vic tells her, in language that echoes Silette's handbook, to: 'Follow the clues.... Believe nothing. Question everything.' Suspicion falls on an 18-year-old career-criminal-in-the-making, Andray Fairview, who once worked for Vic and broke into his house. Claire is soon sucked into the underbelly of a city gasping for air. The haunting atmosphere of post-Katrina New Orleans lingers long after the revelation of Vic's fate. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review" by , "Terrific. I love this book! Absolutely love it. This is the first fresh literary voice I've heard in years. Sara Gran recombines all the elements of good, solid story-telling and lifts something original from a well-loved form."
"Review" by , "I just burned through Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, and it's the first truly fantastic book I've read this year. Gran's evocation of the exposed wounds of New Orleans — before and after the storm — is a master-class in descriptive and emotive writing, and Claire is one of the most exciting new characters in years; a Raymond Chandler heroine with just enough of an off-beat vibe to tilt the whole thing enticingly off-kilter. Everything here — from the smallest touches to the grander mythology setting the tone of the series — just sings."
"Review" by , "Gran (Dope, 2006, etc.) provides an adequate mystery, a comically self-important detective and a searing portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans."
"Synopsis" by , The first book in an exciting new mystery series featuring Claire DeWitt, the world's most eccentric private investigator.
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