George Dawes Green made a big splash in 1994 with his THE CAVEMAN’S VALENTINE. If I remember correctly, Barry Gardner (for whom the Barry Awards are named) reviewed it quite favorably. It won the Best First Mystery Edgar Award in 1995.

Rather than capitalizing on that successful launch, George Dawes Green only wrote two more books – THE JUROR in 1994 and RAVENS thirteen years later (gasp!) in 2009. Not exactly a book a year, which conventional wisdom has long dictated as a prerequisite for a successful writing career.

Well, surprise, surprise, Green is coming out with a new book this year – only 13 years since his last – but I have to admit that it sounds intriguing. And I love the cover art!

THE KINGDOMS OF SAVANNAH
Celadon Books, $26.99, July 19, 2022

Plot: It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep’s, one of the town’s favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be “disappeared.” An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths?truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.

Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah’s elite, Green’s novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family.