Whatever Happened to Eddy Crane? - by Kate Crane (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"This book is everything a reader could want. It will crack your whole heart open."--Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises and Women We Buried, Women We Burned

Two decades after her father disappeared from his trucking company, a daughter searches for answers in this stunning, exquisitely written investigative memoir from a "talented writer" (David Simon).

One night when Kate Crane was twelve, her father called to say he was on his way home from his trucking business. He never showed up. Kate and her family were left stunned, with no explanation or resolution on the horizon. Twenty years later, now a journalist in New York City, Kate reopens the investigation with Baltimore's Cold Case Unit, tracks down the retired detectives who'd worked Eddy's case, and chases leads with old friends through her hometown's dark alleys. Maybe she can find some answers--or at least a little solace.

Part memoir, part true crime, part psychological suspense, Whatever Happened to Eddy Crane? is a brilliantly written, emotionally resonant story of searing loss and resilience, of Baltimore, of family ghosts, and the bravery required to confront the past.

"A gutting page-turner, an investigative trick mirror, a blazing book in a category all its own. This daring book catalyzes a new conversation about crime, storytelling, and closure in a grief-denying culture."--Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of Scorched Grace

"Both heartfelt and heartbreaking ... a tale of unexpected strength and redemption."--Jim Knipfel, author of Slackjaw

Review Quotes

"This is no mere memoir, but instead a daughter's campaign to wrestle ghosts that have long haunted, and, in the end, to reclaim what she can of a lost father. Having reported on that man's disappearance and the thwarted police investigation that ensued, I've been a bystander as Kate Crane, a young child when we first met, embarked on and endured a solitary journey of both memory and self-discovery, stirring the embers of a cold case that everyone else was willing to forget. She would not forget. And this beautifully crafted, deeply felt narrative is the result. Eddy Crane is now truly remembered."--David Simon


"Both heartfelt and heartbreaking, Whatever Happened to Eddy Crane is part memoir, part true crime, and part instruction manual for the building of a soul. Crane's story is, and remains, a tragic one, but in gathering the courage to recount her search for her father's murderer she transforms it into a tale of unexpected strength and redemption."--Jim Knipfel, author of Slackjaw

"A life well lived does not always make for a story well told. But Kate Crane's engrossing memoir has both. The death of her father, a steady drumbeat that haunts her youth, propels this book, but it is her life--her heart and mind--that keep us turning pages. This book is everything a reader could want. It will crack your whole heart open."--Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises and Women We Buried, Women We Burned

"Whatever Happened to Eddy Crane? is a gutting page-turner, an investigative trick mirror, a blazing book in a category all its own. Set in storied Baltimore and New York City during Y2K, this genre-warping work is equal parts memoir and survival manifesto, an incisive debate about True Crime, and a love letter to Gen X tactility (photographs, posters, Xerox, actual cameras). The result is a propulsive, gripping quest--a mind-bending study of what it means to inherit mystery, to live mystery. This daring book catalyzes a new conversation about crime, storytelling, and closure in a grief-denying culture. I will never forget Whatever Happened to Eddy Crane?--and neither will you."--Margot Douaihy, USA Today bestselling author of Scorched Grace