Pay Dirt Road

Recent college graduate Annie McIntyre, the narrator of Tony Hillerman Prize winner Allen’s solid debut, has felt rudderless since moving home to Garnett, Tex., and taking a job at the local café, so she’s thrilled when her grandfather, Leroy McIntyre, and his business partner, Mary-Pat Zimmerman, offer her part-time work at their PI firm. Annie starts out doing the detectives’ filing, but then fellow waitress Victoria Merritt turns up dead after attending the same drunken bonfire as Annie. Police make an arrest, but Annie has her doubts, and when the detainee’s grandmother hires Leroy and Mary-Pat to clear his name, Annie insists on joining their investigation. Viable suspects abound, from Victoria’s estranged husband to an oil exec intent on running a pipeline through Victoria’s backyard, and Annie is determined to catch the real culprit, even if doing so means imperiling herself. The story is slow to start and much of the interpersonal conflict feels manufactured, but evocative prose and a powerful sense of place lift an otherwise run-of-the-mill mystery. Allen is a writer with promise. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)