The Orange Curtain

John Shannon

“Shannon delivers a tour-de-force climax...” —Publishers Weekly

When a bookstore owner’s brilliant daughter Phuong Minh vanishes from Little Saigon, Jack Liffey once again finds himself in familiar territory—being in unfamiliar territory. Leaving LA, Jack crosses into Orange County’s Vietnamese community, where he crosses paths with a troubled cop whose intentions are unclear, and Billy Gudger, a troubled young man who believes he is cursed by an exotic toadstone lodged in his brain.

With the "Sagebrush Killer” on the loose, Jack must face the possibility that Phuong Minh is one of his victims, even as Jack continues to navigate Orange County’s gang culture, and the beautiful mentor of the missing girl, Tien Joubert. As Publisher’s Weekly wrote of Shannon’s fourth installment of the Jack Liffey series, “When the parallel lines meet, Shannon delivers a tour-de-force climax, with the action believably, and beautifully, driven by each character's needs.”

The Jack Liffey series takes readers deep into the many Los Angeles ethnic communities, tribal enclaves, and religious cultures that sometimes co-exist, sometimes clash, but always surprise. Fans of George Pelecanos will fall deep into the fast-paced, unpredictable, and dangerous world John Shannon creates.

PRAISE FOR THE CONCRETE RIVER (#1 in the Jack Liffey Mystery Series)

“Noir master… Shannon tackles a tough social issue with intelligence and a clear moral compass. His spare, noir style and articulate dialog strike just the right balance between thriller and social consciousness. His growing audience will love this. Recommended.” —Library Journal

“Witty, alert, energetic, talented way above the ordinary.” —New York Times Book Review

“The hands-down winner in the long-running ‘Where is the Next Raymond Chandler Coming From?’ sweepstakes… Jack Liffey is the most interesting new private detective since Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins.” —Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune

“Shannon has mastered the most essential element of the genre, giving us a guy we want to stand shoulder to shoulder with while we try to make sense out of a senseless universe.” —Booklist [Starred]

“Shannon has written an intelligent, surprising book, found the heart of his working-class characters, and delivered a first-rate thriller in the bargain.” —George Pelecanos

“Liffey is a most unlikely action hero whose feats of intuition, verbosity, and personal empathy make an interesting contrast to the exploits of his hard-boiled peers.” —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“Shannon matches the master, Raymond Chandler, in several key areas, notably location, characterization and dialogue.” —Dick Lochte, Los Angeles Times

“The real rewards of this novel are the wounded and searching souls caught up in the madness… and his appealingly thoughtful hero.” —John Koch, Boston Globe

“Southern California has always been fertile ground for crime writers and one of the very best of them has to be John Shannon.” —Denver Post

“The landscape of Los Angeles… has been deconstructed by writers from Chandler to Didion, but never quite as artfully as does John Shannon.” —James Crumley

“Jack Liffey is an extraordinary creation… Shannon is the philosopher king of the mystery forum. And long may he reign.” —Charlotte Vale Allen, CT USA