Providence Rag by Bruce Desilva

Providence Rag by Bruce Desilva

DeSilva's portrait of the city is at once jaundiced and adoring, and in his hands Providence becomes an appealingly noir backdrop. --Kirkus Reviews

Liam Mulligan is an old-school investigative reporter for a dying newspaper in Providence, Rhode Island. He knows every street and alley, every priest and prostitute, every cop and street thug. He knows the mobsters and politicians--who are pretty much one and the same.

Inspired by a true story, Providence Rag finds Mulligan, his pal Mason, and the newspaper they both work for at an ethical crossroads. The youngest serial killer in history butchered five of his neighbors before he was old enough to drive. When he was caught, Rhode Island's antiquated criminal statutes--never intended for someone like him--required that all juveniles, no matter their crimes, be released at the age of twenty-one.

Nevertheless, this killer is still behind bars, serving time for crimes supposedly committed on the inside. That these charges were fabricated is an open secret; but nearly everyone, including Mulligan, is fine with it. If the monster ever gets out, Mulligan figures, more people will surely die.

But Mason is not fine with it. If officials can get away with framing this killer, he declares, they could do it to anybody. As Mason sets out to prove the authorities are perverting the justice system, Mulligan searches frantically for some legal way to keep a monster behind bars. Their dueling investigations pit friend against friend in a high-stakes race against time--and snare them in an ethical dilemma that has no right answer.