Lesser Evils

Book excerpt: The mystifying murder of a child brings us into a dark world of intrigue When returning WWII veteran Bill Warren becomes the replacement police chief of a quiet Cape Cod town, his duties seem simple: days spent breaking up petty rackets and domestic disturbances and nights spent caring for his disabled son. But these commitments can't shut out the echoes of the life he might have led. Then a child goes missing and Warren begins an investigation more frightening than any he could have imagined. As the case grows increasingly mystifying and attracts statewide attention, the press converges on the placid Cape. Desperate to get answers before another child dies, Warren will have to confront a criminal conspiracy, a secretive pharmaceutical firm, and an odd local clergyman who may be either a miracle worker or a madman. The America that Warren left is not the one he has returned to. As the investigation expands into the squalid corners of a world where the police may be as culpable as the men they hunt, Warren is confronted by his own past and the threat it poses to his future. A thrilling debut in the finest noir tradition, a painterly evocation of a seminal time and place, Lesser Evils is a vivid portrait of a father trying to remain honorable in a changing world. The novel will keep you riveted until its startling and unexpected denouement.