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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

LIVES LAID AWAY

Stephen Mack Jones

Detroit ex-cop August Snow takes up vigilante justice when his beloved neighborhood of Mexicantown is caught in the crosshairs of a human trafficking scheme.
When the body of an unidentified young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed fast. Wayne County Coroner Bobby Falconi gives the woman's photo to his old pal ex-police detective August Snow, insisting August show it around his native Mexicantown to see if anyone recognizes her. August's good friend Elena, a prominent advocate for undocumented immigrants, recognizes the woman immediately as a local teenager, Isadora del Torres.

Izzy's story is one the authorities don't want getting around—and she's not the only young woman to have disappeared during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, only to turn up dead a few weeks later. Preyed upon by the law itself, the people of Mexicantown have no one to turn to. August Snow, the son of an African-American cop and a Mexican-American painter, will not sit by and watch his neighbors suffer in silence. In a guns-blazing wild ride across Detroit, from its neo-Nazi biker hole-ups to its hip-hop recording studios, its swanky social clubs to its seedy nightclubs, August puts his own life on the line to protect the community he loves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Stephen Mack Jones is a published poet, award-winning playwright, and recipient of the prestigious Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship. He survived a number of years in advertising and marketing communications. Mr. Jones was born in Lansing, Michigan, and currently lives in Farmington Hills, outside of Detroit. AUGUST SNOW is his first novel, as well as the recipient of the 2017 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book Award Winner, 2018 Michigan Notable Book Award Winner, the Strand Award Mystery Fiction Winner, 2018 Hammett Award Winner for Literary Excellence in Crime Fiction, and 2018 Nero Award Mystery Winner.
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Published 2019-01-01 by Soho

Comments

“Jones effectively dramatizes the Trump administration's approach to illegal immigration in his superior second novel featuring ex-cop August Snow (after 2017's August Snow).” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Jones's action-packed book has echoes of Raymond Chandler's banter and bursts of Dashiell Hammett's violence, with a tip of the porkpie hat to Walter Mosley. What's more, Lives Laid Away delivers a bracing amount of rough humor and a whole lot of heart.” Read more...

Recorded Books

“Superior . . . August Snow is an uncompromising crusader with a sense of humor reminiscent of Robert Parker's Spenser. He merits a long literary life.”

“Hard-driving noir, with a strong dose of neighborhood camaraderie; for read-alike comparisons, think Easy Rawlins and his close-knit L.A. neighborhood meet Jack Reacher.”

Gaspin Media/Lionsgate