About this item
Highlights
- *Recommended in the New York Times*A Punishing Breed, the first in a series of novels featuring Detective DJ Arias, is a murder mystery that takes place in Los Angeles, the city of angels, freeways, Santa Ana winds, and honeysuckle slithering through chain-link fences and perfuming LA's dark streets and neighborhoods.Detective Arias hunts for a murderer on a liberal arts campus that prides itself on its progressive curriculum but is rife with jealousy, racial and sexual tensions, and a hierarchy as real and destructive as a medieval fortress.
- Author(s): DC Frost
- 320 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Mystery & Detective
Description
About the Book
"A Punishing Breed takes place on the Los Angeles campus of Hesperia College, where the death of a philandering administrator raises questions of class, race, and gender. The murder brings together DJ Arias, an old-school Mexican American detective; Danny Mendoza, an ex-convict campus gardener; and The Watcher, a mysterious neighborhood recluse. As the investigation progresses, DJ becomes enmeshed in the insular world of a private elite liberal arts institution that in many ways replicates the class system of a medieval fiefdom. DJ, still grappling with memories of his beloved gang member cousin and failed marriage, feels out of place and finds himself stumped as The Watcher wends his way through the periphery of the murder investigation just out of DJ's grasp. Meanwhile, a dangerous murderer stalks the campus and may kill again. In its portrayal of culture clashes, human folly, and power inequities, A Punishing Breed embraces the rich culture of Los Angeles. The novel blends dark humor with loss and the vagaries of love, all amid the tense aftermath of a murder"--Book Synopsis
*Recommended in the New York Times*
A Punishing Breed, the first in a series of novels featuring Detective DJ Arias, is a murder mystery that takes place in Los Angeles, the city of angels, freeways, Santa Ana winds, and honeysuckle slithering through chain-link fences and perfuming LA's dark streets and neighborhoods.
Detective Arias hunts for a murderer on a liberal arts campus that prides itself on its progressive curriculum but is rife with jealousy, racial and sexual tensions, and a hierarchy as real and destructive as a medieval fortress. DJ Arias, good at his job because he sees the worst in people, is challenged by the college community, a neighborhood recluse, and a young Latino gardener he sent to jail ten years ago for a hit-and-run accident. Through the course of his investigation, Arias will find out no one is who they appear to be. He begins to reclaim his humanity by adopting a dog he names Evidence and finding the clues to a crime born from a dark secret not contained in the past but alive in the present, which will cast destruction and murder on the denizens of the small liberal arts campus.
Review Quotes
Featured in the Shelf Unbound list of 2024 Indie Summer Reads
"The campus murder mystery...explores grievances turned deadly. I particularly enjoyed one of the latest examples, DC Frost's A Punishing Breed." --Sarah Weinman, The New York Times
"In this mystery debut novelist DC Frost takes us through the lush world of a tiny liberal arts college and its murderous undergrowth. Masterfully moving between voices, the plot and the psychological twists push us forward, keeping us compulsively reading to the very last page."
--Désirée Zamorano, author of Human Cargo and The Amado Women
"VERDICT: Readers who like campus mysteries and intriguing, gruff detectives with a few redeeming qualities will enjoy this first book in a planned series." --Liz French, Library Journal
"DC Frost does an artful job of weaving in current campus social issues, juggling multiple suspects, and giving us a peek into the tense relationship between the two men who form the heart of the story."--Jen Ryland, Jen Ryland Reviews