Dark Currents book cover by Doug Burgess

Dark Currents

Adult • General Interest
David's grandmother witnesses a murder Tension builds in a small New England town Family secrets complicate the investigation David confronts his trans identity Mysteries of dementia cloud the truth

When David left home three years ago, he never looked back. Now, the only connection to his tiny New England hometown is his grandmother Maggie, whose mind is unraveling as she slowly succumbs to dementia. But when her best friend turns up dead and she may be the sole witness to the crime, David has no choice but to return to a place that never accepted his trans identity and only ever wanted him gone.

Maggie's testimony is shrouded in doubt—in between moments of lucidity she talks about things that never happened, about apparitions, disappearances, and murders. But are they really only stories? After a man's death sets off a hauntingly familiar chain of events, it seems there's some truth to Maggie's words.

With a body count on the rise, David begrudgingly tunes back into the rural voices of the tight-knit community to seek out the truth. And while David returns home a changed man, he finds that the ghosts of his past have waited for him. He'll have to face them head-on before he can begin to unravel his grandmother's story and finally put to rest the mysteries of this little town, lost in the fog.

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Edition information

Book details

Publisher
Poisoned Pen Press
Publication date
2021
Print length
288 pages
Language
English
ISBN
9781728223216

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Reader guide

What to Know Before Reading Dark Currents

No one ever talks about what happens in Little Compton. Now, David's only connection to his tiny New England hometown is his grandmother Maggie, who is succumbing to dementia. When her best friend is found dead, and Maggie may be the sole witness, David must return to a place that rejected him. Between moments of lucidity, she speaks of apparitions and murders, blurring the line between truth and imagination.

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G-NRIS™ story intelligence

Why readers connect with Dark Currents

A concise view of the book’s strongest literary signals and the reading interests shared by people connected to it on bks.social.

Reader connection

Readers connected to this book most often reflect Psychological Moral Explorer reader archetypes. Their strongest shared genre interests include Crime, Mystery, Thriller, and Literary Fiction. They are commonly drawn to themes such as Psychological Moral Explorer, Exploring Justice And Consequence, Seeking Dark Psychological Tension, and Exploring The Fractured Self.

About the author

Doug Burgess

Doug Burgess

Doug Burgess grew up in a small town just across the bay from Little Compton, where his family has lived for over 350 years. He has authored numerous books on maritime history, including Engines of Empire: Steamships and the Victorian Imagination (Stanford University Press, 2016) and The Politics of Piracy (University Press of New England, 2015). He has also published short fiction in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and other periodicals. Burgess is a professor of history in Manhattan.

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