Songs of Innocence

by Richard Aleas

Published 1 July 2007
LITTLE GIRL…FOUND.

Three years ago, detective John Blake solved a mystery that changed his life forever – and left a woman he loved dead.  Now Blake is back, to investigate the apparent suicide of Dorothy Louise Burke, a beautiful college student with a double life.  The secrets Blake uncovers could blow the lid off New York City’s sex trade…if they don’t kill him first.

Richard Aleas’ first novel, LITTLE GIRL LOST, was among the most celebrated crime novels of the year, receiving nominations for both the Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Shamus Award.  But nothing in John Blake’s first case could prepare you for the shocking conclusion of his second…

Little Girl Lost

by Richard Aleas

Published 2 January 2004
Miranda Sugarman was supposed to be in the Midwest, working as an eye doctor.  So how did she end up shot to death on the roof of one of New York City’s seediest strip clubs?

It’s John Blake’s job to find out – not just because he’s a private investigator, but because ten years earlier, Miranda had been his lover. Now he has to uncover the truth about the missing decade, about Miranda’s secret life as half of the strip club circuit’s hottest act, and about the vicious underworld figure she worked for. But the closer John gets to the truth, the more dangerous his investigation becomes, until a shattering faceoff in an East Village tenement changes his life forever.

Little Girl Lost is a stunning debut novel from a celebrated writer whose short stories have been selected for Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Year’s Best Horror Stories as well as short-listed for the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.