Black Water Rising A Novel

Los Angeles TimesBook Prize Finalist (Mystery/Thriller)
Edgar Award Nominee (Best First Novel)
The Orange Prize for Fiction (Shortlist)
Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl, and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with his path to the American Dream, carefully tucking away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.
Houston, Texas, 1981. It's here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night he impulsively saves a drowning woman's life - and opens a Pandora's Box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate powerbrokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.
"A near-perfect balance of trenchant social commentary, rich characterizations, and action-oriented Description.... Attica Locke s a writer wise beyond her years."?-Los Angeles Times
"Atmospheric... deeply nuanced... akin to George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane.... Subtle and compelling."?-New York Times