Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

by
Sara Gran

( 12 )

Pick Up In Store

Paperback

$11.17

BN.com price

$13.95 List Price (Save 20%)

Eligible for FREE SHIPPING details

Usually ships within 24 hours - Same Day delivery in Manhattan details

Marketplace (New and Used)

from

$7.58

$13.95 List Price (Save 46%)

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

All (15)

Used (4)

New (11)

Page 1 of 2

Showing 1 – 10 of 15 (2 pages)

$7.58

(Save 46%)

McKenzie Books

Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4587)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Very Good

Slight cover and page wear. Text appears unmarked. Ships the next business day, with tracking and delivery confirmation sent to your email.

Ships from: Beaverton, OR

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)
•Express, 48 States
•Express (AK, HI)

$8.27

(Save 41%)

PaperbackshopUS

Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New

Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

$8.27

(Save 41%)

ExpeditedBooksUS

Seller since 2010

Feedback rating:

(889)

Condition: New

Shipped from US. Express shipping in 3 to 6 business days. Standard shipping in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)
•Express, 48 States
•Express (AK, HI)

$8.38

(Save 40%)

PaperbackshopUS

Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(4796)

Condition: New

Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days. Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

$8.46

(Save 39%)

TrackedBooksUS

Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(88)

Condition: New

Shipped from US in 4 to 14 business days standard or 3 to 6 business days express. FREE TRACKING WITH EVERY ORDER! Established seller since 2000

Ships from: Aurora, IL

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)
•Express, 48 States
•Express (AK, HI)

$8.49

(Save 39%)

SuperBookDeals-

Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(14111)

Condition: New

Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Ships from: South Bend, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Canadian
•International
•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

$8.50

(Save 39%)

books_Xpress

Seller since 2012

Feedback rating:

(970)

Condition: New

BRAND NEW - 100% GUARANTEED! Fast shipping

Ships from: Bayonne, NJ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

$8.94

(Save 36%)

SuperBookDeals-

Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(14111)

Condition: Like New

Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Ships from: South Bend, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Canadian
•International
•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

$8.95

(Save 36%)

Johnny's Used Books OR

Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(157)

Condition: Like New

Boston 2012 Trade Paperback First Printing Fine 8vo-over 7?-9?" tall. Very light edge wear. Great copy with tight binding and clean pages.

Ships from: Portland, OR

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Canadian
•International
•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)
•Express, 48 States
•Express (AK, HI)

$9.12

(Save 35%)

indoo

Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(21685)

Condition: New

BRAND NEW

Ships from: Avenel, NJ

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

•Canadian
•International
•Standard, 48 States
•Standard (AK, HI)

Page 1 of 2

Showing 1 – 10 of 15 (2 pages)

Buy Now

Get Free Sample Buy As Gift

NOOK Book (eBook)

$10.18

BN.com price

$13.95 List Price (Save 27%)

Available on NOOK devices and apps

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

Advertising

Overview

Claire DeWitt is not your average private investigator. She has brilliant deductive skills and is an ace at discovering evidence. But Claire also uses her dreams, omens, and mind-expanding herbs to help her solve mysteries, and relies on Détection — the only book published by the late, great, and mysterious French detective Jacques Silette.

The tattooed, pot-smoking Claire has just arrived in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city she’s avoided since her mentor, Silette’s student Constance Darling, was murdered there. Claire is investigating the disappearance of Vic Willing, a prosecutor known for winning convictions in a homicide- plagued city. Has an angry criminal enacted revenge on Vic? Or did he use the storm as a means to disappear? Claire follows the clues, finding old friends and making new enemies — foremost among them Andray Fairview, a young gang member who just might hold the key to the mystery.

Littered with memories of Claire’s years as a girl detective in 1980s Brooklyn, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.

Editorial Reviews

Marilyn Stasio

Claire is a charmer, but there's nothing cute about her paranormal visions of a city living in torment.
—The New York Times

Associated Press Staff

“Beautifully written in a tight, quirky style that distinguishes Gran as one of the more original writers working today.”
—Associated Press

More Reviews (7) Fewer Reviews

BookPage

“The mystery of Vic Willing’s disappearance pulls you in, but Gran’s enticing characters will keep you hooked.”
—BookPage

Express (UK)

“The most unusual, intelligent thriller I have read for a long time.”
—Express (UK)

New York Times

“The dead-eyed face of post-Katrina New Orleans that stares out from Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is every bit as raw as the battered mug [Gran] drew of 1950s Brooklyn in Dope. But hope is on the way in the exotic person of Claire DeWitt. . . Claire is a charmer, but there’s nothing cute about her paranormal visions of a city living in torment.”
—New York Times

Philadelphia CityPaper

“A high-proof Nancy Drew drawn straight from the tradition of an opiated Holmes.”
—Philadelphia CityPaper

Salon

“delicious and addictive.”
—Salon

The Atlantic

“With Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, Gran elevates the detective story as literature and brings together a sophisticated mystery, a witty, antagonistic private eye, and a city she knows too well.”
—The Atlantic

The Times-Picayune

“The mystery captures post-Katrina New Orleans like no other novel yet has . . .DeWitt’s mesmerizing character and memorable voice take your breath away.”
—The Times-Picayune

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780547747613
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date: 5/1/2012
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 393,908
Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

SARA GRAN is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, Come Closer, a psychological thriller hailed as "hypnotic, disturbing . . . Genuinely scary" (Bret Easton Ellis), and Dope, a noir homage. A former bookseller and native of Brooklyn, she now lives in Northern California.

Read an Excerpt

it’s my uncle," the man said on the phone. "He’s lost. We lost him in the storm."

"Lost?" I said. "You mean, he drowned?"

"No," the man said, distressed. "Lost. I mean, yeah, he probably drowned. Probably dead. I haven’t heard from him or anything. I can’t imagine how he could still be alive."

"So what’s the mystery?" I said.

A crow flew overhead as we talked. I was in Northern California, near Santa Rosa. I sat at a picnic table by a clump of redwoods. A blue jay squawked nearby. Crows used to be bad omens, but now they were so common that it was hard to say.

Omens change. Signs shifts. Nothing is permanent.

That night I dreamed I was back in New Orleans. I hadn’t been there in ten years. But now, in my dream, it was during the flood. I sat on a rooftop in the cool, dark night. Moonlight reflected off the water around me. It was quiet. Everyone was gone.

Across the street a man sat on another rooftop in a straight-backed chair. The man flickered in and out of focus like an old piece of film, burned through in spots from light. He was fifty or sixty, white, pale, just on this side of short, with salt-and-pepper hair and bushy eyebrows. He wore a three-piece black suit with a high collar and a black tie. He scowled.

The man looked at me sternly.

"If I told you the truth plainly," the man said, "you would not understand." His voice was scratchy and warped, like an old record. But I could still make out the tinge of a French accent. "If life gave you answers outright, they would be meaningless. Each detective must take her clues and solve her mysteries for herself. No one can solve your mystery for you; a book cannot tell you the way."

Now I recognized the man; it was, of course, Jacques Silette, the great French detective. The words were from his one and only book, Détection.

I looked around and in the black night I saw a light shimmering in the distance. As the light got closer I saw that it was a rowboat with a lantern attached to the bow.

I thought it had come to rescue us. But it was empty.

"No one will save you," Silette said from his rooftop. "No one will come. You are alone in your search; no friend, no lover, no God from above will come to your aid. Your mysteries are yours alone."

Silette faded in and out, flickering in the moonlight.

"All I can do is leave you clues," he said. "And hope that you will not only solve your mysteries, but choose carefully the clues you leave behind. Make your choices wisely, ma’moiselle. The mysteries you leave will last for lifetimes after you are gone.

"Remember: you are the only hope for those that come after you."

I woke up coughing, spitting water out of my mouth.

That morning I talked to my doctor about the dream. Then I called the man back. I took the case.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4

( 12 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(5)

4 Star

(5)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(2)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines

Tell the world what you think of this product.

Add Recommendations

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

- HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
- Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
- Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
- Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
- Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
- Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
- Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

- By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
- Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
- See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.

Anonymous

Posted June 18, 2011

Too expensive

Would love to order this novel, sounds like my cup of tea, but a disturbing trend with B&N is the increasing price for it's Nook offerings. When I got my Nook, the smiling sales person said that ebooks would always be cheaper that hardbound books. This is no longer the case, thus making me feel that B&N's Nook is no longer the tablet of choice when it comes to saving money, becoming another corporate ripoff.

4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
ReadersEntertainment

Posted June 6, 2011

more from this reviewer

A Private Detective for the New Age...

Claire DeWitt finds herself back in New Orleans, a place to which she has not returned since the death of her mentor several years ago, and she is working to make sense of the disappearance of Vic Willing, the only Assistant District Attorney from New Orleans who was not corrupt. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Willing disappeared, and now his nephew Leon, who has come into possession of his uncle's fortune, wants answers. Claire is the woman for the job. Known for being the best in her field, this impetuous but brilliant private detective has an intrinsic talent for solving cases such as this one. She is emotionally challenged and idiosyncratic, relying on herbal substances, the I-Ching, and her instincts to make progress in this (or any) investigative case, but she has what it takes to unravel a mystery when it comes her way. Find out where the search for answers takes Claire as she wanders in a practically haphazard way through a city known for being wild and risky in the novel Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. This new release from Sara Gran will make an excellent addition to your contemporary mystery collection. Claire is Sherlock Holmes for the new age, a well-developed, dynamic, and fascinating character who makes for a great focus in this novel. The book also does an excellent job of keeping the reader captivated with its stark, honest depiction of post-Katrina New Orleans, which is at times depressing and quite overwhelming. For that reason, it would prove an ideal book for anyone generally interested in the qualities and realities of New Orleans (but prepare yourself for a harsh reality), especially following the major storm's devastation. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead will not disappoint.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
ReaderOfThePack

Posted June 4, 2011

A Unique Read!

If you are tired of crime novels featuring down-on-their-luck male investigators/detectives who are lonely and drink too much, maybe it is time for a change of pace. Perhaps Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran can help you out of that rut. Except that Claire DeWitt is a lonely female PI who drinks too much and enjoys a bit of drugs as well. Claire may not sound so different, but I assure you, this book is unique. First, there is Détection, a book by the late French detective Jacques Silette. Claire follows the writings of Détection as if it is a detective's philosophical handbook. This book was mentioned so much that I began to wonder if perhaps this French detective was a real person. (He's not.) The next interesting item is that the book takes place in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Claire does not look kindly upon New Orleans and the descriptions make the setting seem dismal. While the city of New Orleans in disrepair, the teens of New Orleans are also in disrepair. I was reminded me of The Wire - if a hurricane devastated Hamsterdam. There are guns and drugs and kids. Some of the kids are straight up thugs and some of the kids are thugs that are trying to do the right thing. I assure you that Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a different kind of crime novel. I am not sure that I can describe it in a way that gives it justice. It is a mystery with a bit of surrealism thrown in. Claire has dreams that blur with reality. I definitely look forward to the second book in the series. I want to see Claire's character develop a little more, and I want to revisit some of the other characters from City of the Dead. Many thanks to the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for providing me with an e-Galley, via NetGalley.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
7249523

Posted July 27, 2011

A new heroine

A different kind of detective novel. Read with an open mind. I look forward to uncovering more of Dewitt's mysteries.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
DougMN

Posted January 22, 2012

Great Start to a Series

I really enjoyed this book and found the character very entertaining and interesting. I cannot wait for the next in the series.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Seabreeze-1

Posted December 23, 2011

This must be priced incorrectly

I am not willing to pay this large a premium above ALL other sellers to buy from BN.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted July 13, 2011

No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous

Posted August 12, 2011

No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous

Posted June 22, 2011

No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous

Posted September 3, 2011

No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous

Posted July 31, 2011

No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous

Posted June 25, 2011

No text was provided for this review.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

Pick Up in Store

Available on NOOK devices and apps

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Marilyn Stasio

Associated Press Staff

BookPage

Express (UK)

New York Times

Philadelphia CityPaper

Salon

The Atlantic

The Times-Picayune

Product Details

Meet the Author

Read an Excerpt

Customer Reviews

Rating Distribution

5 Star

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Your Rating:

Your Recommendations:

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

What to exclude from your review:

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

Reminder:

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Too expensive

A Private Detective for the New Age...

A Unique Read!

A new heroine

Great Start to a Series

This must be priced incorrectly