The Unspoken: An Ashe Cayne Novel

This fine series launch from bestseller Smith (The Ancient Nine) introduces PI Ashe Cayne, a former Chicago PD detective who has the luxury of being able to pick his cases selectively thanks to a large settlement he won from the city for wrongfully terminating him after he refused to participate in a department cover-up. Society matron Violet Gerrigan shows up at Ashe’s office and begs him to find her 25-year-old daughter, Tinsley, who left the Gerrigan family home two days earlier to visit a friend and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Violet fears her daughter has been the victim of foul play. Ashe’s search for Tinsley brings him into contact with gang leaders, corporate bigwigs, dicey charitable organizations, and the machinations of the upper echelons of the Chicago police. What Ashe uncovers about the Gerrigans and their inner circle puts him in peril, but, because he’s a crusader with a strong sense of justice, he resolutely pursues all leads. Ashe is just one of many well-drawn, multilayered characters. Readers will eagerly await his return. Agent: Mitch Hoffman, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Oct.)