C.E. Poverman

A Novel of Suspense and Obsession…

In their last anguished moments together, Lee Anne, as an act of revenge, gives Val a picture of his brother, Davis, who just several months before has been killed in a bizarre accident. Lee Anne will tell Val nothing about the photo, but for seventeen years she has sent him fragmented and cryptic messages on unsigned postcards which seem to be the aftershocks of a terrible event.  And for seventeen years Val has dared not reply.  Now, he is on his way back to see her, even as he fears it may cost him everything.

"I am not lying when I say this book is better than Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn."
—Melanie Bishop for Huffington Post Books

Failed lawyer-turned-private detective Frank August is confronted by a difficult conflict of interest when he is asked to investigate an old friend accused of involvement in a major drug case, a situation that forces him to confront unresolved relationships with his late father, his wife, and his drinking problem.

“Has all the elements of classic noir…Poverman is a fine writer with a suitably brisk style and a good ear for courthouse jargon.”
—The New York Times Book Review

In these sensitive and keenly observed stories dramatizing the complexities and ambiguities of human relationships, C. E. Poverman presents a richly varied range of protagonists. Among them are an Hispanic social worker who takes calls on a crisis center helpline ("Cutter"), a young model who demonstrates cosmetics ("Beautiful"), and a college professor accused of sexual abuse ("The Man Who Died").

“Poverman’s fifth book is a dazzler. At its best, and that’s often, a powerful group of stories: one of the finest collections since Christopher Tilghman’s In a Father’s Place.” —Kirkus Review (starred)

“In contrast to the spare and oblique language of much contemporary fiction, Poverman’s prose is generous and rich.”
—Publishers Weekly

“In this novel, the passages which break our hearts are the very words which console.”
—Washington Post Book World

“This is a deft and captivating novel that succeeds as few first novels do.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Poverman takes us to new places, new cities of the imagination. He is adept, surprising, sometimes harsh and frequently very funny—a real discovery."
—Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction, Judge, Donald Barthelme