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"Providence Rag" (Forge Books), by Bruce DeSilva
Bruce DeSilva uses his journalistic background to elevate "Providence Rag," the third entry in his award-winning series to feature reporter Liam Mulligan.
The brutal murder of two women and their children over the course of several years rocks a community in Rhode Island in the early 1990s. Though his background is sports, Mulligan gets pulled in to assist with the coverage. After a second murder, he begins to suspect that a teenage boy is the killer. He convinces a cop to investigate and soon after, Kwame Diggs is behind bars. But a Rhode Island law stipulates that a juvenile, regardless of the crime committed, must be released at age 21.
Flash-forward to 2012. Diggs is still in a supermax prison, with officials saying it's the result of his behavior, including assaulting a guard and smuggling drugs. What if the charges were fabricated to keep Diggs locked up? Is it morally right to play with the truth for the sake of protecting the population? Or is it racism because he's black?
Mulligan built his reputation as a reliable reporter because of the case. Now Mulligan and his friend Mason, a fellow reporter, start digging into the charges against Diggs during his incarceration.
DeSilva based the story on the actual case of Craig Price, known as the "Warwick Slasher." He puts forth tough questions with no straight answers — and delivers another outstanding novel.
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