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ADVANCE PRAISE FORDEAD EXTRA
“Dark, seamy, and complex, Dead Extra is, at first glance, an excellent, faithful foray into old school LA noir. Jack Chesley is a hard-drinking former cop and World War II vet, pushed into investigating his wife’s suspicious death. But Sean Carswell is a writer who understands this genre well enough to subvert it left and right, particularly when it comes to the dead woman, whose gutsy misadventures occupy almost half of the book. Come for your hardboiled comforts—the violence, the corruption, and the mood are all there, as are the sharp prose and snappy dialogue. Stay for Carswell’s fresh, intelligent point of view.”
— Steph Cha, author of Dead Soon Enough and Follow Her Home
“Sean Carswell has written a moody, atmospheric pageturner that kept me up all night and left me hungover with longing for glamorous, gritty 1940s Los Angeles. Carswell’s shell-shocked, world-weary vet is a realistic protagonist, but it’s the dames who really steal this show.”
— Denise Hamilton, Los Angeles Noir editor and author of Damage Control and the Eve Diamond mysteries
“Like a deadly cross between The Day of the Locust and LA Confidential, Dead Extra is a stunning exploration of Hollywood’s postwar history: dark, dream-like, and very dangerous. I loved it.”
— Phoef Sutton, New York Times–bestselling author (with Janet Evanovich) of Wicked Charms and Curious Minds and author of the Crush mysteries
“Sean Carswell’s Dead Extra is a refreshing take on classic hardboiled ’40s noir. There’s a world-weary hero who can take a knock and give plenty back, a dead woman with a scandalous past, corrupt cops, and Hollywood skeletons, but what’s really striking is the extent to which the story is largely driven by women—not your typical femme fatales, but smart, flawed, determined women with their own dreams, traumas, and stories. Carswell’s women live in a time that limits their ambitions and routinely victimizes them, but they push back in spite of the consequences, finding both tragedies and triumphs.”
— Lisa Brackmann, New York Times–bestselling author of Rock Paper Tiger and Black Swan Rising
“Dirty cops, unscrupulous mental health workers, and shady Hollywood actors—Sean Carswell spins a noirish tale with razor-edged prose and memorable characters who confront sexism, corruption, and the exploitation of the powerless. Dead Extra is a compelling story from the way back when that feels uncomfortably contemporary.”
— Patricia Smiley, author of the Pacific Homicide crime novels
DEAD EXTRA
SEAN CARSWELL
Copyright © 2019 by Sean Carswell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
| Published by Prospect Park Books2359 Lincoln AvenueAltadena, CA 91001www.prospectparkbooks.com |
Distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Carswell, Sean, 1970- author.
Title: Dead extra / Sean Carswell.
Description: Altadena, CA : Prospect Park Books, [2019] | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018045540 (print) | LCCN 2018048072 (ebook) | ISBN 9781945551482 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781945551475 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Murder--Investigation--Fiction. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3603.A7764 (ebook) | LCC PS3603.A7764 D43 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018045540
Cover design by David Ter-Avanesyan
Book layout and design by Amy Inouye, Future Studio
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