The Lawrence Grimes Novels Book One - CINDER - Paperback

In 1984, newly promoted homicide detective Lawrence Grimes is quietly transferred from Detroit to the remote desert town of Cinder, Nevada. Officially, it's a fresh start. Unofficially, it's exile. Cinder is immaculate. Streets are clean. Crime is nonexistent. The people are friendly-too friendly. And no one seems concerned that tourists pass through town and are never seen again. When a decomposed body is discovered just outside the town limits, Grimes is told to keep the investigation quiet. No press. No paperwork. No questions. As more bodies surface-mutilated, partially destroyed, discarded in the desert-Grimes realizes Cinder's perfection is carefully maintained, and the truth is something the town will kill to protect. At the center of the mystery lies a sealed-off farm on the outskirts of town and a family warped by decades of secret government experimentation, their existence erased from official records. The townspeople know. The authorities know. And everyone agrees on one thing: silence is survival.

• Cinder* is a slow-burning crime horror novel about institutional corruption, manufactured normalcy, and the price of uncovering truths meant to stay buried. Gritty, atmospheric, and relentlessly tense, it introduces a detective who learns-too late-that justice has limits, and some towns are built on bodies.