Sarah Jane

Description

A spare, sparkling tour de force about one woman's journey to becoming a cop. Sarah Jane Pullman is a good cop with a complicated past. From her small-town chicken-farming roots through her runaway adolescence, court-ordered Army stint, ill-advised marriage and years slinging scrambled eggs over greasy spoon griddles, Sarah Jane unfolds her life story, a parable about memory, atonement, and finding shape in chaos. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she finds herself named the de facto sheriff of a rural town, investigating the mysterious disappearance of her predecessor - and the even more mysterious realities of the life he was hiding from his own colleagues and closest friends. 'One of the best of the best.' - Ian Rankin '...a spellbinding character study...[A] gorgeous authorial voice.' - The New York Times 'slim and affecting.' - The Wall Street Journal 'A poet, Sallis packs a wealth of human experience into a small space.' - The Telegraph 'Sublime talent...poetic storytelling of the highest quality, entrancing and yet utterly unexpected.' - The Daily Mail

James Sallis has published sixteen novels, multiple collections of short stories, essays, and poems, books of musicology, a biography of Chester Himes, and a translation of Raymond Queneau's novel Saint Glinglin. He has written about books for the LA Times, New York Times, and Washington Post, and for some years served as a books columnist for the Boston Globe. He has received a lifetime achievement award from Bouchercon, the Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing, and the Grand Prix de Litterature policiere.

One of the Best Crime Novels of the Year - The gorgeous authorial voice of James Sallis rings out in Sarah Jane -- Marilyn Stasio * New York Times * Mesmerising fiction from America's most compelling crime critic, poet and novelist * Times and Sunday Times Crime Club * One of the American greats, James Sallis details the conflicted life of Sarah Jane Pullman in this spare, astringent character study. Sallis offers an understanding vision of his heroine, conjuring her liaisons with a variety of ill-advised lovers as the novel moves from her troubled past to a new life as a detective * Financial Times * This short but far from sweet novel announces Sallis as one of America's top crime writers, adding another feather to a cap already weighed down with enough to start a chicken farm of his own. -- Mark Timlin * Buzz Magazine * Exquisite prose... Seemingly effortless; efficient, brutal and beautiful -- Craig Sisterton * New Zealand Listener *