LAPD homicide detective Maria Cole trusts no one. She survives on her own wits. She sleeps with aknife. She tries to forget her past. Then she receives a call. Her estranged ex-con father has been murdered at his home in coastal Alabama, and everything she's buried comes surging back. When she arrives in the sleepy beach town to settle his affairs, nothing the local police tell her adds up. Somebody wants to make sure she doesn't get to the truth.But Maria always gets to the truth. Even if it is the death of her.



Jonathan Ames is a prize-winning American author. Many of his novels are available from Pushkin Pres, including You Were Never Really Here and the series of Happy Doll thrillers that began with A Man Named Doll. He also created the hit tv shows Bored to Death and Blunt Talk. You Were Never Really Here was adapted for a major Hollywood film by Lynne Ramsay, starring Joaquin Phoenix. A Past Without Pictures is the first book in a new thriller series starring Maria Cole. Jonathan lives in Los Angeles with his dog Fezzik.



Written in brilliant clear prose with stunning details and insight [. . .] There is a sensitivity and poignancy underlying the off-book investigation by an LAPD detective whose ex-con father was murdered in the deep south. With each book Mr. Ames pushes himself farther and the result is a rich body of work.



A spare but potent novella . . . Ames's disaffected style infuses the proceedings with a deep sadness that elevates it from bog-standard crime fiction to something headier and more emotionally wounding.



A quicksilver family reckoning whose epiphanies arrive in the form of felonies



PRAISE FOR JONATHAN AMES



Fits neatly into the landscape of Chandler, Macdonald, Connelly and Crais



Thoroughly enjoyable... First-class pulp fiction



I loved this book - it's quirky, edgy, charming, funny and serious, all in one. Very highly recommended



A stiff shot of timeless Hollywood noir, spiked with black humour and leaving a warm glow as it goes down