BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD
Winner of the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel
Winner of the 2018 Anthony Award for Best Novel
Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
A Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
A Washington Post 10 Best Thrillers and Mysteries of 2017
A Kirkus Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2017
A Financial Times Best Book of the Year
Best book of the year from Vulture, The Strand Magazine, Southern Living, Bolo Books, Publisher’s Weekly, Book Riot, The Guardian, Lit Hub, The Boston Globe, Dallas News, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Minnesota Public Radio, Texas Monthly, The Daily Beast, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel
When it comes to law and order, East Texas plays by its own rules – a fact that Darren Mathews, a black Texas Ranger, knows all too well. Deeply ambivalent about growing up black in the lone star state, he was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as he could. Until duty called him home. But when his allegiance to his roots puts his job in jeopardy, he travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders—a black lawyer from Chicago and a local white woman—have stirred up a hornet’s nest of resentment. Darren must solve the crimes – and save himself in the process – before Lark’s long-simmering racial fault lines erupt. A rural noir suffused with the unique music, color, and nuance of East Texas, BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD, is an exhilarating, timely novel about the collision of race and justice in America.
Praise & Reviews
“A tale of racism, hatred, and, surprisingly, love…[An] absorbing series launch”
―Publishers Weekly
“Attica Locke has both mastered the thriller and exceeded it… I loved everything about this book.”
— Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth
“Attica Locke’s Bluebird, Bluebird reads like a blues song to East Texas with all its troubles over property, race, and love. Taut where it has to be to keep a murder investigation on its toes, this novel is also languid when you need to understand just what would keep a black woman or man in a place where so much troubled history lies. This novel marks Love’s (and Hatred’s) comings and goings amongst black and white, and all the shades between. Locke’s small town murder investigation reveals what lies at the heart of America’s confusion over race.”
―Walter Mosley, author of Down the River unto the Sea
“With Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke brings freshness and vitality to a beloved form. Her storytelling touch is just so strong! From the first beautifully done scene until the finale, this is a very propulsive novel concerning old deeds that keep influencing the present, injustice and courage–a powerful and dramatic look at contemporary black life in rural America.”
―Daniel Woodrell, author of The Maid’s Version
“Attica Locke is a must-read author who writes with power, grace, and heart, and Bluebird, Bluebird is a remarkable achievement. This is a rare novel that thrills, educates, and inspires all at once. Don’t miss it.”
―Michael Koryta, author of Rise the Dark
“Bluebird, Bluebird has the impeccable pacing, memorable characters, and deepening sense of mystery and dread we expect in the finest noir thrillers. But this novel is so much more. Darren Mathews, the black Texas Ranger at the story’s center, is a man caught up in the complex and at times contradictory loyalties of geography, profession, race, and family. He is a brilliantly realized character and in his refusal to settle for easy answers, he leads himself and the reader toward the most elemental of contradictions: the inextricable link between hate and love. Attica Locke has written a marvelous novel.”
―Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Risen
“Attica Locke knows Texas, a place that has shaped both her characters and her life. Locke’s new book, Bluebird, Bluebird, is evidence of her deep knowledge and love of her community and a deep talent for writing hype thrillers that also manage to be timely, relevant and keenly insightful.”
―Joe Ide, author of IQ and Righteous
“Attica Locke knows how to tell a tale, her voice so direct and crisp that the dust from the side of Highway 59 will settle on your hands as you hold Bluebird, Bluebird. Nothing comes easy in Shelby County, where the lines between right and wrong blur a little more with each heartfelt page, and love and pain live together as one under the big Texas sun.”
―Michael Farris Smith, author of Desperation Road and Rivers