Seraphim

A teenager stands accused of killing a Hurricane Katrina aid worker in former New Orleans public defender Perry’s promising debut. Ben Alder, a rabbinical seminary student turned defense attorney, is assigned the case of 16-year-old Robert Johnson, who has confessed to shooting 36-year-old restaurateur Lillie Scott in early 2008. Scott had become well-known for leading post-hurricane recovery efforts in the Seventh Ward, and her killing has shaken the city. As Ben learns more about Robert and his father, who’s serving life in prison for a series of minor offenses, he comes to believe that, though the teenager was discovered with the weapon that killed Scott, he may have been set up to take the fall. Determined to prove Robert innocent and enhance his own reputation, Ben plunges into the city’s underbelly, and faces a crisis of faith in the process. Perry’s focus is less on the murder mystery than on the rhythms of post-Katrina New Orleans and Ben’s shifting psychology, which he explores with often-breathtaking prose (“There’s a terror of seeing, the vacancy that isn’t and the emptiness that is,” Ben muses, comparing himself to the Seraphim, six-winged angels that shield their eyes from God). Crime fiction fans will be eager to see what Perry does next. Agent: Janet Oshiro, Robbins Office. (July)