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Fiction, Mystery & Detective
When One Man Dies by Dave White β€” book cover

When One Man Dies

by Dave White
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Synopsis

A hit and run. Simple as that. And suddenly harmless old Gerry Figuroa is lying dead on the asphalt. New Jersey cop turned private investigator Jackson Donne sure as hell doesn’t want to investigate his drinking buddy’s death, but he’s made a promise that leaves him no choice.

And before long, he’s drawing uncomfortably close to a murderer.

Meanwhile, an apparently routine divorce case takes a dangerous turn, and sinister connections to Gerry’s death start to emerge. Just when it seems things can’t get any worse, Donne learns that a bitter old enemy is mixed up in the whole mess. Bill Martin, his ex–Narcotics Department partner, has secrets to expose that could reopen the still-aching wounds of Donne’s past. Permanently.

Donne would like nothing better than to crawl back into a bottle and forget he ever heard Gerry Figuroa’s name, but it’s too late for that. Now he’s in way too deep, tangled up in a plot whose tendrils reach far into his town’s past—and his own.

Publishers Weekly

Derringer Award-winner White's engrossing, evocative debut novel will grab most readers from its opening sentences: "I've killed three men in my life. One the police know about, two that I've kept to myself." New Jersey ex-cop Jackson Donne is about to use profits from his PI business to fund a bachelor's degree when his closest friend, Korean War vet Gerry Figuroa, is killed in a hit-and-run. Reluctantly investigating the accident, Donne finds evidence that Figuroa may have been supplementing his actor's income by manufacturing crystal meth, and soon suspicious ties appear to an apparently unrelated adultery and divorce case. White manages to make improbable plot twists seem plausible, and his choice to alternate Donne's slightly unhinged first-person narration with the third-person perspective of New Brunswick Police Det. Bill Martin, Donne's despicably corrupt former partner and nemesis, works surprisingly well. Fans of hard-hitting, uncompromising private investigators will hope that Donne ditches his college dreams and continues to pound the pavement. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

About the Author, Dave White

DAVE WHITE was born in 1979 and holds a Masters in the Art of Teaching from Montclair State University. He is a winner and multiple-time nominee for the Derringer Award for best short story and was shortlisted for the 2005 storySouth Million Writers Award. He has contributed to many anthologies and collections, including The Adventure of the Missing Detective and Damn Near Dead. He lives in New Jersey.

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Book Details

Published
September 1, 2007
Publisher
Crown Publishing Group
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780307382788

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