Land of Shadows

Along the ever-changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles, a seventeen-year-old girl is found dead at a construction site, hanging in the closet of an unfinished condominium. Homicide detective Elouise "Lou" Norton's new partner Colin Taggert, fresh from the Colorado Springs police department, assumes it's a teenage suicide. Lou isn't buying the easy explanation. For one thing, the condo site is owned by Napoleon Crase, a self-made millionaire... and the man who may have murdered Lou's missing sister thirty years ago. As Lou investigates the death of Monique Darson, she uncovers undeniable links between the two cases. She is convinced that when she solves Monique's case she will finally bring her lost sister home. But as she gets closer to the truth, she also gets closer to a violent killer. After all this time, can he be brought to justice... before Lou becomes his next victim? "Fast, funny, heartbreaking and wise... Elouise Norton is the best new character you'll meet this year, and Rachel Howzell Hall is the best pure storyteller you'll read this year." Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author "Spellbinding. Gritty. Original, complex, profound and riveting... Prepare to be blown away." Hank Phillippi Ryan Anthony, Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author "Intense, gritty and absolutely riveting... her most dazzling accomplishment is bringing to life LAPD detective Lou Norton, whose passionate voice is still reverberating in my head. A phenomenal book." Hilary Davidson Anthony Award winning author of Blood Always Tells "A hard-hitting tale of a modern, complex Los Angeles. Well-written and deftly paced... a story that stays with you after the last page is read." Gary Phillips author of Warlord of Willow Ridge



Rachel Howzell Hall is the author of the critically acclaimed Detective Elouise Norton series, as well as Quiet Storm, which received a starred review from Library Journal, as well as a positive review from Publishers Weekly, and was a featured selection for Borders' Original Voices program. Her day job is in cancer research. She lives in Los Angeles.