A Man of Lies

Crane’s ambitious, fast-moving debut follows a gay mobster desperate to leave the underworld behind. Hulking mob enforcer Barrett Rye thinks he’s found a possible life partner in Mickey, a numbers whiz who went to work for Barrett’s employer, Chicago mob boss Enrico Scarpello, as repayment for a debt Mickey’s parents owed. But the relationship ends prematurely when Scarpello, believing that the couple ripped him off, has Mickey killed in front of Barrett. Left alive to repay the tens of thousands Scarpello believes was stolen from him, Barrett, who is routinely underestimated by others, hatches an elaborate plan centering on Omaha hoodlum Henry Holzmann, who believes he has a line on a lost Fabergé egg worth millions. There’s a lot of bloodshed and a lot of plot twists here, perhaps one too many for most readers to swallow. Crane’s reach may exceed his grasp, but it’s a bold and exciting first effort. Agent: Murray Weiss, Catalyst Literary. (July)