A tough bartender. A romantic soul. A woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years.
Charlie Savannah has spent years becoming the kind of man other men envy.
Behind the bar, he’s smooth, confident and surrounded by beautiful women. His customers come for the drinks but stay for the conversation. His friends see an urbane ladies’ man who seems completely at home in the dangerous, seductive world of South Los Angeles.
But Charlie knows better.
The player lifestyle is getting old.
His nights are filled with fascinating strangers, complicated women, dangerous friends, cultural collisions, memories, violence, humor and desire. He records it all in the private journal he calls Cold Blue Rain.
Yet when the bar closes and Charlie goes home, one memory keeps finding him.
Marlo.
They were young when they knew each other. Charlie wanted to tell her how he felt, but he didn’t know how.
Now twenty years have passed.
He doesn’t know where she lives.
He doesn’t know what became of her.
He doesn’t even know if she remembers him.
But the harder Charlie tries to let go of the past, the more powerfully it returns.
Set against the rain-soaked streets, coastal neighborhoods, bars and backroads of Southern California, Cold Blue Rain blends modern noir, romance, literary fiction, mystery, humor and brutally honest reflections on love, masculinity, identity, memory and regret.
And when Charlie finally decides that wondering is no longer enough, the past begins calling him home.
The second half of Cold Blue Rain takes readers into another era.
It is 1940.
Twelve-year-old Lou Yarber is traveling with his family from Los Angeles to Texas during a time when racial divisions are both dangerous and deadly.
Lou is intelligent, observant and far more aware of the adult world than most people realize.
And one question has been bothering him throughout the journey:
Will Uncle Buddy come back to Texas?
Buddy left years earlier after becoming the target of a lynch mob.
If he returns now, old hatred may return with him.
Part road story, part historical family drama and part suspense novel, Uncle Buddy explores identity, race, family, injustice and the consequences of a past that refuses to remain buried.
Two interconnected literary experiences. Two eras. One unforgettable exploration of memory, identity, love and survival.
For mature readers.
The published edition specifically advises discretion and identifies the book as intended for adult readers age eighteen and older.
