Citizen Vince

by Jess Walter

Published 31 October 2004
Vince's real name is Marty Hagen. A career criminal from New Jersey, he has been given a new identity in a sleepy Northwest city by the Witness Protection Program. Since he testified against the hoods he used to run with, his rights have been restored - including his right to vote, something he's never done. For Vince, voting in the Presidential election becomes the most important thing in his life - proof that even a guy like him can change.

But while Vince is busy remaking himself, his past arrives in town in the form of a contract killer that he recognises from his old life. Has he come to kill Vince?

With three days left until the election, Vince must duck crooks, cops (including a younger and fresher-looking Alan Dupree from Over Tumbled Graves) and an implacable killer, as he tries to figure out a way to save himself, and his dreams.

At once a suspenseful crime story, a moving love story and a superb evocation of time and place, Citizen Vince is a truly memorable novel from an acclaimed author.

Land of the Blind

by Jess Walter

Published 31 December 1999
Burned out and working the weekend night shift, Caroline Mabry is confronted with the arrival of an apparently unstable but charming derelict, who announces that he wants to confess to a murder. At first she dismisses him as a nutcase. But when she realizes he is none other than former wunderkind politician Clark Mason, she agrees to let him write out his confession. Nineteen hours later, with Mason still feverishly writing, Caroline finds herself scrambling to investigate his long, progressively darker and more sinister tale before Monday morning arrives and the weekday detectives swoop in to take the case for themselves.

Over Tumbled Graves

by Jess Walter

Published 1 February 2001
Spokane, Washington, a bustling city split by hurtling white-water falls. One afternoon a young woman's body is found buried in a riverside park - then a second body, then a third. Before the week is out Caroline Mabry is plunged into a full-blown hunt for a serial murderer her colleagues have nicknamed the Southbank Strangler. As Caroline and her troubled mentor, Alan Dupree, bridle under an investigation overrun by headline-grabbing "specialists" and bean-counting statisticians. As they close in on a suspect Caroline and Alan confront dark truths about the killer-hunting industry - and about their attraction to each other. And in the end they come face-to-face with an evil very different - and far more alarming - than the one they thought they were chasing.

The Financial Lives of the Poets

by Jess Walter

Published 22 September 2009
Matt Prior is losing his job, his wife, and his house, and he's about to lose his mind--until he discovers a way that he might possibly be able to save it all.

Beautiful Ruins

by Jess Walter

Published 12 June 2012
A novel that spans fifty years. The Italian housekeeper and his long-lost American starlet; the producer who once brought them together, and his assistant. A glittering world filled with unforgettable characters.