Staff Pick
Bluebird, Bluebird is a deeply troubling exploration of the penetrating racism that plagues huge swaths of America, and what can be set in motion when people feel backed into a corner by a cultural landscape they no longer recognize. This literary mystery is elegant, frank, and unswerving in its focus. Recommended By Emily F., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel
One of CrimeReads's Best Novels of the Decade
A "heartbreakingly resonant" (USA Today) thriller about the explosive intersection of love, race, and justice from the author of Heaven, My Home
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules — a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home.
When his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders — a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman — have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes — and save himself in the process — before Lark's long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. From a writer and producer of the Emmy winning Fox TV show Empire, Bluebird, Bluebird is a rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas.
"In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke has both mastered the thriller and exceeded it." — Ann Patchett
Review
"Locke, having stockpiled an acclaimed array of crime novels (Pleasantville, 2015, etc.), deserves a career breakthrough for this deftly plotted whodunit whose writing pulses throughout with a raw, blues-inflected lyricism."
Kirkus (Starred Review)
Review
"A tale of racism, hatred, and, surprisingly, love....[An] absorbing series launch." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Locke is a gifted author, and her intriguing and compelling crime novel will keep readers engrossed." Library Journal (Starred Review)
About the Author
Attica Locke is the author of the Highway 59 novels, which include 2018 Edgar Award winner Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home; Pleasantville, which won the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was long-listed for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction; Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award; and The Cutting Season, a national bestseller and winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence.
She is also a television writer and producer, most recently for When They See Us and the upcoming adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.