Drink the Tea: A Mystery

Willis Gidney is a born liar and rip-off artist, an expert at the scam. Growing up without parents or a home, by age twelve he is a successful young man, running his own small empire, until he meets Shadrack Davies. That's Captain Shadrack Davies, of the D.C. Police. Davies wants to reform Gidney and becomes his foster father. Though he tries not to, Gidney learns a small amount of ethics from Shad---just enough to bother a kid from the streets for the rest of his life.

Now Gidney is a PI, walking those same streets. So it's no surprise that when his closest friend, jazz saxophonist Steps Jackson, asks Gidney to find his missing daughter, Gidney is compelled to say yes---even though she's been missing for twenty-five years. He finds a woman who may be the girl's mother--and within hours she turns up dead. The police accuse Gidney of the murder and throw him in jail.

Maybe Gidney should quit while he's behind. But when his investigation puts him up against a ruthless multinational corporation, a two-faced congressman, and a young woman desperate to conceal her past, Gidney has no time left for second thoughts. In fact, he may have no time left at all.

Thomas Kaufman is a winner of the PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition. His debut novel, Drink the Tea, which boasts an original PI and an engaging cast of characters, adds a fresh perspective to the genre.

Author: Thomas Kaufman
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 03/02/2010
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.80w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780312607302
Award: Thriller Awards - Nominee

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2009
Library Journal 12/15/2009 pg. 88
Publishers Weekly 01/04/2010 pg. 32
Booklist 02/01/2010 pg. 32

About the Author

Thomas Kaufman is an award-winning motion picture director and cameraman. He has twice won the Gordon Parks Award for Cinematography, and an Emmy for his documentary about deaf children, See What I'm Saying. Drink the Tea, a winner of the PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competion, is his first novel. He lives with his wife and two children in Maryland.