My Darling Detective - Rilegato

Praise for What Is Left the Daughter: "Howard Norman is a genle, deliberate writer, and his humor is smart and dry [in this] novel about the illogic of love and the violent chaos it leaves in its wake."—New York Times Book Review   "You lean in, trying to catch every word, lulled by [Norman’s] voice as he describes the most ordinary lives that just happen to be punctuated by macabre accidents. . . . Norman offers a kind of rough-hewn poetry throughout [with an] ardor that shimmers just below the surface."—Washington Post   "It's easy to gush about Howard Norman. His 1994 novel, ‘The Bird Artist,’ a finalist for the National Book Award, is always at the top of my list when asked for reading recommendations and I don't know anyone who's been disappointed....He does it again in his latest novel, ‘What Is Left The Daughter.’... This is another Norman novel I will now gladly recommend."—Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"[A] playful hand at work. Norman knows how to weave an enticing and satisfying mystery, one tantalizing thread at a time. And he left me wanting more of Jake and Martha." —The New York Times "Intellectually restless and self-aware... investigat[es] and re-creat[es] the comfort, longing and nostalgia that detective fiction provides for its consumers. At its heart, this is a story about the way reading and writing can serve as a counter to destruction and loneliness....[and] gives us many reasons to be hopeful." —The Washington Post "My Darling Detective is an enjoyable story full of choice phrases, light sex, and a great deal of classic noir dialogue...there’s more than a hint of The Thin Man and novels of that genre. [A]n enjoyable read, a mystery that is also a look at a young couple’s life in the ’70s, as well as a contrasting of the very opposite reaction two men have to the same war." —New York Journal of Books “Norman is gifted at establishing atmosphere and character, and he pleasurably engages with old-fashioned crime-story patter ... Norman pulls off what old-school noir pros like Chandler and Goodis did: mixes romance with blood in the gutter, makes sure the bad guys get theirs, and ensures the good guys don't come out unscathed. An unconventional, lively literary mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews "Jacob and Martha are delightful characters, young lovers unraveling a complex and very personal mystery. This is a crowd-pleasing old school mystery novel."—Publishers Weekly

“Norman is gifted at establishing atmosphere and character, and he pleasurably engages with old-fashioned crime-story patter ... Norman pulls off what old-school noir pros like Chandler and Goodis did: mixes romance with blood in the gutter, makes sure the bad guys get theirs, and ensures the good guys don't come out unscathed. An unconventional, lively literary mystery.”—Kirkus Reviews "Jacob and Martha are delightful characters, young lovers unraveling a complex and very personal mystery. This is a crowd-pleasing old school mystery novel."—Publishers Weekly

HOWARD NORMAN is a winner of the Lannan Award for fiction and a two-time National Book Award nominee. He is also author of the novels The Museum Guard, The Haunting of L, What Is Left the Daughter, and Next Life Might Be Kinder. He divides his time between East Calais, Vermont, and Washington, DC.