Bart Schneider reads from "Nameless Dame: Murder on the Russian River"

The
Russian River Valley—laid-back, marijuana-steeped, and off-the-grid—is
the backdrop for Bart Schneider’s new mystery featuring the tough and
dogged detective Augie Boyer.

Augie
takes a break from the bite of another Minnesota winter by visiting the
California homestead of his longtime friend Bobby Sabbatini, who is
celebrating the opening of his poetry-infused tavern, Ginsberg’s Galley.
But Augie’s notoriety precedes him, and his arrival is met with a trip
to a murder scene. Ruthie Rosenberg, a local who has fallen into a life
of drugs and dependence, has been found at The Last Judgment Campground,
shot twice in the head.

At
the request of the Deputy Jesse Coolican, who’s loved Ruthie for years,
Augie promises to investigate the case himself. No sooner than he
starts to ask questions, Augie discovers the trail leading to Ruthie’s
killer—or killers—is tangled with politics, religion, bold-faced lies,
and suspicious double-lives. Even his closest friends are part of the
fray.

Is
Ruthie’s murder the work of a copycat? An escalated statement by the
religious right? Only an outsider can discover the painful truth—and
Augie must work quickly before the insular community buries the truth
deep among its ever-growing secrets.

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Bart Schneider is the author of the novels Blue Bossa, a finalist for the Los ­Angeles Times Book Prize; Secret Love, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Beautiful Inez; and The Man in the Blizzard. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.