Little Deaths

Inspired by a true story, Little Deaths, like celebrated novels by Sarah Waters and Megan Abbott, is compelling literary crime fiction that explores the capacity for good and evil in us all. It's the summer of 1965, and the streets of Queens, New York shimmer in a heatwave. One July morning, Ruth Malone, a cocktail waitress, wakes to find a bedroom window wide open and her two young children missing. After a desperate search, the police make a horrifying discovery. Separated from her husband, Ruth has been raising her children alone. Noting her perfectly made-up face and provocative clothing, the empty liquor bottles and love letters that litter her apartment, detectives leap to convenient conclusions fueled by neighborhood gossip and speculation. Covering the story as his first big assignment, tabloid reporter Pete Wonicke at first can’t help but do the same. But the longer he spends watching Ruth, the more he learns about the dark ways of cops and reporters, and the underbelly of the city he now calls home. As he fixates on Ruth, Pete soon begins to doubt everything he thought he knew. Ruth Malone is enthralling, challenging, and secretive—is she really capable of murder? Haunting, intoxicating, and heart-poundingly suspenseful, Little Death is a gripping novel about love, morality, and obsession, exploring the capacity for good and evil within us all.