A Drink Before the War

As private detectives in South Boston's impoverished slums and ghettos, Kenzie and Gennaro are familiar with the area as only locals can. Operating out of an abandoned church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro accept a seemingly straightforward task for a well-known politician: to find the location of a black housekeeper named Jenna Angeline, who is suspected of stealing private state records. But once they have Jenna, it's far easier to find her than to remain alive. As the inquiry goes further, it reveals extortion, assassinations, and child prostitution that reaches from bombed-out slum streets to the highest echelons of government, including members of Jenna's family and opposing gang leaders. The first book in Lehane's critically acclaimed series featuring Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, A Drink Before the War, is a remarkable debut that is simultaneously a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, where the most heinous crimes are committed in the name of love and the worst human horrors are found closest to home.