Read An Excerpt From ‘Runner’ by Tracy Clark

Former homicide cop turned uncompromising private investigator Cass Raines searches for a runaway teen–and unearths a twisted world of misdirection and lies — in Sue Grafton Memorial Award-winning author Tracy Clark’s fourth Chicago Mystery series installment. Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Tracy Clark’s Runner, which releases on June 29th from Kensington Publishing, but first here’s what Tracy had to say about this excerpt!

“This is one of my favorite scenes from RUNNER. I love them all, but this one was so fun to write. The setting is an actual place here in Chicago. It’s an old bread company, like in the book, and like this scene indicates, it has long been abandoned and left to rot. I’m always scoping the city out for good places to highlight. There is more of a lead-up to this chase and confrontation, but here’s a little taste.”

SYNOPSIS
Chicago in the dead of winter can be brutal, especially when you’re scouring the frigid streets for a missing girl. Fifteen-year-old Ramona Titus has run away from her foster home. Her biological mother, Leesa Evans, is a recovering addict who admits she failed Ramona often in the past. But now she’s clean. And she’s determined to make up for her mistakes–if Cass can only help her find her daughter.

Cass visits Ramona’s foster mother, Deloris Poole, who is also desperate to bring the girl home. Ramona came to Deloris six months ago, angry and distrustful, but was slowly opening up. The police are on the search, but Cass has sources closer to the streets, and a network of savvy allies. Yet it seems Ramona doesn’t want to be found. And Cass soon begins to understand why.

Ramona is holding secrets dark enough to kill for, and anyone who helps her may be fair game. And if Ramona can’t run fast enough and hide well enough to keep the truth safe, she and Cass may both run out of time.

Tracy Clark is the winner of the 2019 Sue Grafton Memorial Award, an Anthony and Lefty Award finalist, and her books have been shortlisted for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List, named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Books of the Year selection. A native of Chicago, she works as an editor in the newspaper industry and roots for the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks equally. She is a board member-at large of Sisters in Crime, Chicagoland, a member of International Thriller Writers, and a Mystery Writers of America Midwest board member. She is currently a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Mystery of the Year. You can visit Tracy online at tracyclarkbooks.com