The Akashic Noir Series’ forensic study of Southern California sharpens its focus on one of Los Angeles’s most recognized neighborhoods.

An encounter at the Million Man March sucks Gunner into an ice-cold missing persons case Elroy Covington should have run. He had traveled to the Million Man March in Washington, DC, looking forward to a new city and new faces. Then in a Dupont Circle restaurant, a twist of fate brought him face to face with a man from his long-forgotten past. Instead of running, Elroy said hello. He never made it home. Eight months later, Elroy's sister shows up in the Los Angeles office of private detective Aaron Gunner, who traded business cards with Elroy at the march and promptly forgot they ever met. Elroy's last known location was Los Angeles, and his sister thinks he was coming to see the...

When Errol 'Handy' White returns to his native Los Angeles to attend the funeral of his old friend R.J. Burrow, who has been brutally murdered, a terrible secret threatens to reveal itself. Twenty-six years earlier, Handy, R.J. and O'Neal Holden pulled a heist that went horrible awry, and Handy's been waiting for it to come back and haunt them ever since. Was the murder linked to the past? Handy knows he can't leave until he finds out for sure.

Featuring twenty of the year’s standout crime short stories handpicked by one of the world’s best thriller writers, Best American Mystery Stories 2010 showcases not only the very best of the crime genre, but the best of American writing full stop. Within its pages, literary legends rub shoulders with the hottest new talent. Contributors in the past have included James Lee Burke, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly, Alice Munro and Joyce Carol Oates. This year’s guest editor is Lee Child, the creator of Jack Reacher and a simultaneous bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.