Henry Rios

Rag And Bone

Plot

From one of the most highly praised writers in mystery fiction, a swan song for a flawed hero.

In six novels, Michael Nava's stories featuring gay Mexican-American lawyer Henry Rios have resonated across a wide spectrum of readers, but his seventh, and final, Rios novel is the most haunting one of all."Counsel, your time has expired," the presiding justice said. He was very nearly right. For fifty-seven seconds, I died.

Recuperating from a heart attack, Rios learns with astonishment that his estranged sister had had an illegitimate daughter when she was young, and that the girl is grown now, with a son of her own and an abusive husband. When the man is shot dead, and the bruised wife confesses, Rios immediately assumes the battered wife acted in self-defense, but gradually small discrepancies emerge, and before long Rios finds himself on the path to a much darker, more complex truth . . . a truth that will lead him to some life-altering events of his own.

Filled with memorable characters and exquisite writing, Rag and Bone is further proof that "if you haven't discovered Nava yet, an uncommonly rich experience awaits" (Kirkus Reviews).