Internationally acclaimed and award-winning crime author Thomas Mullen returns with a bold, fresh look at the social and political upheaval that shook Atlanta during the era of Jim Crow and the Red Scare.



It's 1955 and ex-cop Tommy Smith is working as a crime writer for the only daily black newspaper in America when his boss, a prominent publisher with a politically complex past, turns up murdered, a group of corrupt white cops takes the opportunity to make sure Smith is prime suspect. To clear his name, Smith will need to enlist the help of his old boss, the resilient Sergeant McInnis—who has logged seven difficult years as the only white cop in a black precinct.



As the Montgomery Bus Boycott begins and white Atlantans recoil from the burgeoning Civil Rights movement, McInnis finds himself at a crossroads. He's finally been offered the opportunity to transfer back to the white headquarters, but it's too good to be true. It's up to him to figure out what strings are attached to the offer, and what the change will mean for his subordinate officers and his city as a whole. As anti-Communist fervor and racial fears stoke the city, Smith and McInnis must wander through a gauntlet of federal agents, dirty cops, and crime bosses to find the truth.