Miranda Sugarman was supposed to be in the Midwest, working as an eye doctor. So how did she end up shot to death on the roof of one of New York Cityโs seediest strip clubs?
Itโs John Blakeโs job to find out โ not just because heโs a private investigator, but because ten years earlier, Miranda had been his lover. Now he has to uncover the truth about the missing decade, about Mirandaโs secret life as half of the strip club circuitโs hottest act, and about the vicious underworld figure she worked for. But the closer John gets to the truth, the more dangerous his investigation becomes, until a shattering faceoff in an East Village tenement changes his life forever.
Little Girl Lost is a stunning debut novel from a celebrated writer whose short stories have been selected for Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Yearโs Best Horror Stories as well as short-listed for the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.
From Publishers Weekly
Aleas's debut barrels forth at the speed of one of the Manhattan taxis its protagonist frequently catches and contains some whiplash-inducing plot twists. John Blake, an NYU dropout turned PI, is stunned to learn that his high school girlfriend, Miranda, who he thought went to medical school and then on to lead a tame life in the Midwest, actually became a stripper. Even more shockingโshe's been murdered. Angry and confused, Blake looks into Miranda's past, beginning at a 10th-rate strip joint owned by some unsavory characters. A dancer there helps him at her peril, and he endures some beatings himself as he nears the surprise conclusion. Still, despite the seedy settings, Aleas's writing is more tinged with insight than blood; Blake reflects that "there is such a thing as... a sense of duty to the things of your past, even if they're not quite as beautiful as you remember." Gritty New York streets and scummy apartments flash by briskly, but Aleas has a detective's eye for detail, which allows him to create some atmospheric scenes (when Blake walks through a busy section of Queens, he notes everything from the kosher certification sign in a bakery's window to a drugstore's "out-of-season Coppertone displays"). Tightly written from start to finish, this crime novel is as satisfyingly edgy as the pulp classics that inspired it.
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About the Author
Richard Aleas is the pseudonym of an Edgar and Shamus Award-winning mystery writer and editor whose work has appeared in dozens of publications including Ellery Queenโs Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcockโs Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies such as Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Yearโs Best Horror Stories.