PROMISES TO THE DEAD

The Civil War may be over, but little has changed for the formerly enslaved people living in the remnants of the Confederacy.

Born free, then educated, enslaved, and now nominally free again, Ezra Hayes is searching for the woman he loves when he’s picked up on a phony charge and forced to work on a sugar plantation. There he meets Michael O’Shea of the Freedmen’s Bureau, which is supposed to be helping formerly enslaved African Americans but is about to be disbanded by the government. When O’Shea is lynched, Ezra escapes to Chicago, where his promise to tell O'Shea's parents of his fate sets off a string of murders that will change the life of police detective Frank Hanley. Hanley’s in love with Rivka Kelmansky, a Jewish girl who helped him in For You Were Strangers (2015). Lawrence O'Shea, Michael's father, is reported missing by his wife, and his body is soon pulled from the river. None of the obvious motives seem to apply for the murder of a loving husband who was devastated by the letters Michael had sent describing the treatment of black people by the Sweetbay Sugar Company. Lawrence worked for a railroad that shipped Sweetbay products, and Hanley suspects his boss of ordering his murder but can’t prove it. Rivka’s family is drawn in when her brother, Aaron, and his biracial wife, whose son was fathered by Ezra, become suspects in the murder. Both families are opposed to Hanley and Rivka’s romance, but the case gives the strong-willed Rivka a chance to break free.

A riveting historical novel whose exploration of hatred and prejudice will leave you shaking with anger and horror.