Shadows on Sidewalks

In this gritty noir from Grady (American Sky), former investigative reporter James Traven returns to his hollowed-out hometown of Sidner, Mont., to care for his frail mother. At the Chat & Chew café, he meets Lana, a striking former actress trapped in a transactional marriage to Ronald Zane, whose family’s wealth dominates Sidner’s faltering economy and politics. Invited to dinner at the Zane mansion, Traven is offered a deal: stage an affair with Lana to create a scandal that will free Ronald, who’s gay, from his mother’s demands for an heir, and Ronald will pay both him and Lana handsomely. As Traven reacquaints himself with Sidner and his former neighbors, his uneasy alliance with Lana grows more intimate. Then an ICE raid tears Irma, a longtime Snider resident and caregiver for Traven’s mother, from the community, and Traven tries to intervene by bringing attention to the situation online and in the press. While Traven’s faux affair and efforts to free Irma wear on, social fractures within Sidner deepen, leading to a violent climax that alters the lives of all involved. Though the sprawling story occasionally veers into melodrama, Grady’s vivid prose and sharply drawn characters keep things on track. Fans of voice-driven crime fiction will be satisfied. Agent: Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management. (May)