When The Thrill Is Gone

African-American noir is at its finest in this gripping crime novel from Walter Mosley s New York Times bestselling series, in which a strange young woman hires Detective Leonid McGill to protect her from her allegedly murderous husband.

The economy has hit the private investigator business hard, even for the detective designated as a more than worthy successor to Philip Marlowe (The Boston Globe). Lately, Leonid McGill is getting job offers only from the criminals he s worked so hard to leave behind. Meanwhile, his personal life is growing more complicated, with his stepson mysteriously dropping out of school, a friend getting diagnosed with cancer, and his unfaithful wife taking another new lover.

So how can he say no to the beautiful young woman who walks into his office with a stack of cash? She s an artist who has escaped from poverty via marriage to a rich collector who keeps her on a stipend. But she says she fears for her life and needs Leonid s help. Though Leonid knows better than to believe every word, this isn t a job he can afford to turn away, even as he senses that sorting out the woman s crooked tale might bring him straight to death s door.