Into the Suffering City: A Novel of Baltimore
Bill LeFurgy
Category: Mystery/thriller
A courageous young female doctor and a traumatized private detective enter the seedy underbelly of 1909 Baltimore in search of a killer. “Seamlessly weaves culture, history, and mystery… Clear prose, intricate plotting, and likeable leading characters… an engrossing mystery.” Blueink Review
Baltimore, 1909. The city is jumping with danger and excitement. Cars, cocaine, ragtime music, and moving pictures are new. But some things are as old as the city itself: murder, corruption, and the painful divisions of race, class, and gender.
Dr. Sarah Kennecott is brilliant and on the autism spectrum—a trait that is unidentified and unappreciated at the time. After getting fired for looking too closely into a showgirl’s killing, she refuses to back down from the investigation. She forms an unlikely bond with Jack Harden, a down-on-his-luck private detective suffering from a wartime emotional trauma.
Despite their many differences, Sarah and Jack develop a rare mutual understanding and form a potent team. The pair pursue the murder case from gilded mansions to seedy barrooms while doing their best to avoid a cast of devious characters, some of whom have secrets worth killing to keep.
