Mr. Baldacci shows readers he’s a chameleon as a writer. Here, he transports us to the late 1940’s. The writing style is clipped, terse and correct for the time. The story is complex and intriguing. The characters have breadth and depth. This one borders on mystery noir as Archer wends his way through the morass that is his “present” as a parolee. Congratulations to the author for a fine period mystery.