Book description
Everybody had thought the car-jacking led to the banker's murder. Then
he turns up in a photograph taken by his kidnappers. But if the banker
is still alive, whose ashes are buried in his grave? Reporter Eddie
Bourque is back, chasing down a story that could make his career. Eddie
is a real maverick, stubborn as a mule, smart and intuitive-in fact, he
has the requisite nose for news. And he's lucky in getting the tip of a
lifetime. It leads him to ask difficult questions and chase down
unlikely leads-like his imprisoned brother, Henry Bourque, a man Eddie
scarcely knows. Does Henry have a real clue or is he conning Eddie, not
just about the banker but about whether he committed the double murder
that sent him away for life? Eddie's hunt for answers takes him across
the neighborhoods of his old industrial mill town, Lowell,
Massachusetts-its past, its gritty, multicultural present, its power
structures, its underbelly-and deep into his own family's dark secrets.
As Eddie and his new sister-in-law struggle to untangle the knots, they
hear the echoes of a forgotten crime and find bodies blocking their path
to truth. Someone is killing Eddie's new sources…. “Arsenault's second
mystery about investigative reporter Eddie Bourque, who's now scraping
out a living writing and teaching in the mill town of Lowell, Mass., is
even better than his Shamus-finalist debut, Spiked (2003). Like Archer
Mayor in his Vermont-set Joe Gunther series, Arsenault excels at
depicting ordinary folks adjusting to changing economic circumstances.
He also has an abiding respect for the role of print journalism in
telling their stories. "News writers can't afford writer's block;
it's a luxury for people without deadlines," Bourque muses as he
sits in a Lowell diner and punches into his laptop a story for the
Associated Press about banker Roger Lime, supposedly carjacked and
burned to death, who suddenly resurfaces alive six months later, as
shown in a kidnapper's photo sent to Lime's wife. The published story
brings a letter from Bourque's older brother, Hank, who's serving a life
sentence for murder. "I know who's doing this," Hank writes,
sending Bourque off on a dark and dangerous search for truths both
personal and public. Arsenault's extremely likable hero has a knack for
getting info from tough female cops, but best of all, he's a completely
believable journalistic icon--a man who makes the right choices because
he believes in the value of his work.” Mark Arsenault has been a
paperboy, a “section stuffer,” a newspaper delivery truck driver, a
paste-up artist and, since 1989, a reporter. He presently covers state
politics for The Providence Journal. When he is not at his keyboard, you
might find him on the side of a mountain. He lives in Cranston, Rhode
Island. Spiked is his first novel.
