It Dies with You

Hudson Miller, the narrator of Blackburn’s strong debut, had a promising boxing career until the North Carolina Boxing Commission suspended his license because he threw a punch in a post-bout melee that seriously injured an opponent’s trainer who had taken a cheap shot at him. Miller, who now supports himself as a security guard at a seedy bar, is shaken out of his doldrums when he gets the news from an officer of the Flint Creek PD that his father, Leland, has been fatally shot at Leland’s salvage yard business in the town. The emptied cash register suggests a robbery gone wrong, but Miller’s troubled that, shortly before the killing, he ignored two incoming calls from his father. He digs into the crime after a search of the salvage yard yields a surprising discovery—an array of guns stored in a hidden cache under a floor—that casts a different light on the homicide. Blackburn does a fine job evoking his leads’ conflicting emotions and the pace of small-town life in this carefully crafted mystery. Lou Berney and Michael Kardos fans will look forward to more from this gifted author. Agent: Martha Wydysh, Trident Media Group. (June)