Bluebird, Bluebird

Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award 20182018 Edgar Award Winner for best novelWhen it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules – a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger working the backwoods towns of Highway 59, knows all too well. Deeply conflicted about his home state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him back.

So when allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders – a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman – have stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes – and save himself in the process – before Lark’s long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. ‘In Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke had both mastered the thriller and exceeded it.

Ranger Darren Mathews is tough, honor-bound, and profoundly alive in corrupt world. I loved everything about this book.’ Ann Patchett’Locke’s writing is both sharp-edged and lyrical. This is thoughtful, piercing storytelling with the power to transport.’ Diana Evans, Financial Times