A Nasty Piece of Work

Resumen del libro

'A Nasty Piece of Work is one of those page-turning detective tales that feels like an instant classic. A Chandleresque noir novel, as delightful as it is suspenseful.' 'Le Monde
A master of the spy genre crafts an exemplary detective novel, starring a former CIA agent turned private investigator.

Former CIA agent Lemuel Gunn left the battlefield of Afghanistan for early retirement in the desert of New Mexico, where he works as a private investigator from the creature comforts, such as they are, of a mobile home.

Into his life comes Ornella Neppi, a thirty-something woman making a hash out of her uncles bail bonds business. The source of her troubles, Emilio Gava, was arrested for buying cocaine. Ornella has reason to believe he is planning to jump bail. Unless she can find him, her uncle is going to be $125,000 out of pocket.

For $95-a-day plus expenses (not to mention the pleasure of her company), Gunn agrees to help Ornella track down the wayward suspect. Curiously, no photographs of Gava seem to exist, and once Gunn begins his manhunt, he starts to wonder whether Gava himself existed in the first place.

Robert Littell has been widely praised as one of the best espionage writers of our time. Now, hes turned his formidable skills towards crime fiction in A Nasty Piece of Work.