Brooklyn, mid-2000s. After leaving behind the comforts of a prestigious law firm, a restless attorney attempts to make ends meet by picking up odd jobs from a colourful assortment of clients. When the mysterious Anna Reddick turns up at his apartment with ten thousand dollars in cash and asks him to track down her missing husband, he trusts it will be an easy case. That is until the real Anna Reddick shows up - a magnetic but unpredictable literary prodigy - and he finds himself out of his depth and drawn into a series of deceptions involving Joseph Conrad novels, unscrupulous booksellers and seedy real estate developers.
Set against the tail end of the analogue era, An Honest Living is a gripping story of artistic ambition, obsession, and the small crimes we commit against one another every day.
Genre: Mystery
Set against the tail end of the analogue era, An Honest Living is a gripping story of artistic ambition, obsession, and the small crimes we commit against one another every day.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"A witty, observant debut that's as much a love letter to New York as it is a slick noir." - Andrea Bartz
"Dwyer Murphy beautifully intertwines a noir mystery with the lore of New York. A captivating, beguiling novel right up to its shocking conclusion." - Samantha Downing
"An Honest Living is a superb debut novel by a supremely gifted writer. It's as if Roberto Bolano and Lawrence Osborne got together to reimagine Chinatown. I was as gripped by the mystery at the heart of this book as I was by Dwyer Murphy's perfect prose." - Jonathan Lee
"Dwyer Murphy's An Honest Living is a deliciously smart PI novel set in New York's antiquarian book world that channels Chandler and Chinatown to take us into a recent past that already feels like a bygone era. A brisk, funny, and fabulous debut." - Adrian McKinty
"Dwyer Murphy's debut novel, An Honest Living, is a noir love letter to New York City. It is a sublime trip through a city teeming with professional idlers, hustlers, poets, politicians, insurance scammers, and real estate developers, all vying for their share of New York's divinity." - Walter Mosley
"An Honest Living is an electrically good time meted out in fine, sharp, crackling prose that somehow manages to be an homage, a send-up, and a reinvention all at once." - Téa Obreht
"A terrific book." - Don Winslow
"Dwyer Murphy beautifully intertwines a noir mystery with the lore of New York. A captivating, beguiling novel right up to its shocking conclusion." - Samantha Downing
"An Honest Living is a superb debut novel by a supremely gifted writer. It's as if Roberto Bolano and Lawrence Osborne got together to reimagine Chinatown. I was as gripped by the mystery at the heart of this book as I was by Dwyer Murphy's perfect prose." - Jonathan Lee
"Dwyer Murphy's An Honest Living is a deliciously smart PI novel set in New York's antiquarian book world that channels Chandler and Chinatown to take us into a recent past that already feels like a bygone era. A brisk, funny, and fabulous debut." - Adrian McKinty
"Dwyer Murphy's debut novel, An Honest Living, is a noir love letter to New York City. It is a sublime trip through a city teeming with professional idlers, hustlers, poets, politicians, insurance scammers, and real estate developers, all vying for their share of New York's divinity." - Walter Mosley
"An Honest Living is an electrically good time meted out in fine, sharp, crackling prose that somehow manages to be an homage, a send-up, and a reinvention all at once." - Téa Obreht
"A terrific book." - Don Winslow
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