A Drink Before the War: The First Kenzie and Gennaro Novel

The mesmerizing, darkly original novel that heralded the arrival of now New York Times bestselling author Dennis Lehane, the master of the new noir—and introduced Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, his smart and tough private investigators weaned on the blue-collar streets of Dorchester.

In this gripping private investigator series debut, a cabal of powerful Boston politicians is willing to pay Kenzie and Gennaro big money for a seemingly small job: to find a missing cleaning woman who stole some secret documents. As Kenzie and Gennaro learn, however, this crime is no ordinary theft. It's about justice, about right and wrong. But in this Boston crime thriller, finding the truth isn’t just a dirty business . . . it’s deadly.

“[Lehane] deserves to be included among the most interesting and accomplished American novelists of any genre or category.” - Washington Post Book World

“Mr. Lehane’s detective goes where few gumshoes have gone before. . . . This is good, serious stuff.” - New York Times Book Review

“[Lehane is] a hard-boiled heavyweight, pounding out work as emotionally complex and genre-bending as that of James Lee Burke or James Crumley. . . . In Lehane’s books, everyone grows up but no one escapes.” - Entertainment Weekly

“Harsh and chilling. . . . An absolutely terrific story.” - Boston Sunday Globe

“Dennis Lehane is the heir apparent. You read his stuff and think he’s got the great ones—Chandler, MacDonald, Parker—watching over him as he writes every page. But his voice is an original.” - Michael Connelly