James Lee Burke Raves About “A Scourge of Vipers”

James Lee Burke

Here���s what American Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster James Lee Burke says about A Scourge of Vipers, the new crime novel in my Edgar Award-winning series:

���Bruce DeSilva writes a story in the tradition of Hammett and Higgins, and he writes it with the knowledge of an old-time police reporter. DeSilva knows cops, corruption in Eastern cities, wiseguys, rounders, bounders, gamblers, and midnight ramblers. He writes with authority about the issues of our times, and he does it with honesty and candor. His newsman protagonist feigns the role of the cynic but in his way represents the virtues most of us admire. If you want a hard-boiled view of how a city actually works, this is your book.���

Burke, one of my literary heroes, rarely writes cover blurbs for other authors, so I’m honored that he took the time to do it for me.�� And he did more than that. After reading the manuscript months ago, he sent me a short critique and suggest several small improvements. I had time to make them before the book was printed.

A Scourge of Vipers is the fourth book in my series featuring Liam Mulligan, an investigative reporter for a dying Providence, Rhode Island, newspaper. The book, which has already received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, will be published on April 7 but can be ordered in advance here.