Book Description
“John Verdon writes grown–up detective novels, by which I mean stories with intelligent plots, well–developed characters and crimes that have social consequences. White River Burning, featuring the author’s brainy gumshoe–for–hire, Dave Gurney, checks all these boxes.” —The New York Times Book Review
Tensions have been running high in White River as it approaches the anniversary of a fatal shooting of a black motorist by a local police officer. The polarized city is on edge, confronted with angry demonstrations, arson, and looting. In the midst of the turmoil, a White River police officer is shot dead by an unknown sniper. As the town spirals out of control, local authorities approach Dave Gurney to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting. White River Burning is the most provocative and timely book yet by the author hailed by The New York Times as “masterly.”
Praise For This Book
Praise for White River BurningOne of Publishers Weekly's Best Summer Reads of 2018
“John Verdon writes grown–up detective novels, by which I mean stories with intelligent plots, well–developed characters and crimes that have social consequences. White River Burning, featuring the author's brainy gumshoe–for–hire, Dave Gurney, checks all these boxes . . . While keeping inside the lines of a classic whodunit plot, Verdon enriches the formula with a probing analysis of the way a community rips itself apart.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Outstanding . . . The twisty plot builds up to a logical and satisfying reveal. Verdon expertly combines a baffling whodunit with thoughtfully drawn characters in this timely examination of racial tensions.” —Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)
“Compelling . . . Verdon's gripping, fast–paced police procedural will appeal to crime fiction readers with an interest in current events who enjoy David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, and Carrie Smith.” —Library Journal
“Verdon is a gifted writer and storyteller . . . He definitely nails the zeitgeist.” —Booklist
“It's easy to see why this series is so popular, blending as it does the hard–boiled social observations of noir fiction with the inscrutable pleasures of classic whodunit' puzzle–solving.” —Kirkus Reviews
Praise for the Dave Gurney Series
“Verdon is masterly at keeping Gurney [his protagonist] a step ahead of the reader [and] the murder itself is a pretty crafty piece of legerdemain . . . [The novel features] the kind of head–scratching setup that would get Sherlock Holmes off his cocaine [and] Gurney has the same precision, logic, and thirst for clarity.” —The New York Times
“[An] inventive and entertaining first thriller. The hard–edged characters and gritty plot recall Chandler's 'mean streets,' but the ornate puzzles laid before Verdon's detective might have challenged the 'little grey cells' of Hercule Poirot.” —The Washington Post
“A masterful bit of writing that builds to a surprising and satisfying climax. The tension and enigmatic situations created en route to the conclusion make this book a definite nail–biter. John Verdon's writing skill might well cause him to become known as 'The Puzzle Master.'“ —New York Journal of Books
