Westside Lights: A Novel

(Hardback)

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Description

The Alienistmeets the magical mystery ofThe Ninth Houseas W. M. Akers returns with the third book in his critically acclaimed Jazz Age fantasy series set in the dangerous Westside of New York City, following private detective Gilda Carrs hunt for the truthone tiny mystery at a time.

Like a literary shot of Prohibition-era rotgut moonshinebracing, quite possibly hallucination-inducing, and unlike anything youve ever experienced before. Kirkus Reviews(starred review)onWestside

The Westside of Manhattan is desolate, overgrown, and dangerousand Gilda Carr wouldnt have it any other way. An eccentric detective whose pursuit of tiny mysteries has dragged her to the brink of madness, Gilda spends 1923 searching for something thats eluded her for years: peace. On the revitalized waterfront of the Lower West, Gilda and the gregarious ex-gangster Cherub Stevens start a new life on a stolen yacht. But their old life isnt done with them yet.

They dock their boat on the edge of the White Lights District, a new tenderloin where liquor, drugs, sex, and violence are shaken into a deadly cocktail. When her pet seagull vanishes into the District, Gilda throws herself into the search for the missing bird. Up late watching the river for her pet, Gilda has one drink too many and passes out in the cabin of her waterfront home.

She wakes to a massacre.

Eight people have been slaughtered on the deck of theMisery Queen, and Cherub is among the dead. Gilda, naturally, is the prime suspect. Hunted by the police, the mob, and everyone in between, she must stay free long enough to find the person who stained the Hudson with her beloveds blood. She will discover that on her Westside, no lights are bright enough to drive away the darkness.

Reviews

"Highly recommended for readers who like their genres so bent that they flow into each other, where the fantasy is so dark its nearly horror and the mystery uncovers rot and magic in equal measure." Library Journal(starred review) on Westside Lights "The characters and setting of 1923 work perfectly here and the story is one you want to keep reading along." Red Carpet Crash on Westside Lights [In] W. M. Akerss superb debut Westsidehis research is excellenthis prose sharply crystalline. New York Times The AlienistmeetsThe City & The Cityin this brilliant debut that mixes fantasy and mystery. Gilda Carrs tiny mysteries pack a giant punch. David Morrell,New York Timesbestselling author ofMurder as a Fine Art, on Westside Akers debut novel is an addictively readable fusion of mystery, dark fantasy, alternate history, and existential horror...Its like a literary shot of Prohibition-era rotgut moonshinebracing, quite possibly hallucination-inducing, and unlike anything youve ever experienced before...The illegitimate love child of Algernon Blackwood and Raymond Chandler. Kirkus Reviews(starred review) on Westside "The Westside novels are splendid mixtures of traditional mystery and other-Earth fantasy." Booklist

Author Bio

W. M. Akers is the author of Westside, an award-winning playwright, and the creator of the bestselling games Deadball: Baseball with Dice and Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG. He lives in Philadelphia.