The Tower of Songs: Book 3 in the Duck Darley series
SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEE - “BEST PI NOVEL”
Chancing an improbable stretch of sobriety, unlicensed P.I. Duck Darley has proven himself stronger than the temptations that lurk in the shadows of New York City. But the familiar urge of self-destruction lingers. When Layla Soto, a sharp-tongued Park Avenue teenager with a family as screwed up as his own, presents a twisted missing persons case, Duck feels his old demons stirring once more.
Layla saw her billionaire father get abducted by two enigmatic women in the tallest residential tower on earth, and suspects her grandmother, a Chinese social climber on husband number three, orchestrated the act to silence her only son. Duck agrees to investigate the hedge funder’s disappearance, if only for an excuse to reconcile with Cass Kimball, his dominatrix former partner who nearly got him killed…
Soon, the pair is immersed in a high-stakes ransom linked to the international pharmaceutical drug trade and the most powerful criminals alive.
“Pointed and polished… a tale that would make Hammett or Chandler proud. The Tower of Songs is hard-boiled crime writing par excellence cut from the cloth of Lawrence Block, Andrew Vachss, with just a touch of Walter Mosely tossed in for good measure. Superb in all respects.” - The Providence Journal
“Casey Barrett swings for the fences in this jacked-up third outing for Lawrence “Duck” Darley, Jr, unlicensed PI. Scrape away the high drama and there’s a solid story underneath, with some sharp characterization, particularly of Duck himself … Mr. Barrett? You had me at ‘The beating felt good…’” - Mystery Scene Magazine