After a near decade of silence, Edgar and Hammett award winning novelist Domenic Stansberry returns to the mystery scene with a chilling new noir: The Lizard .In 2016, six years after the conclusion of his acclaimed North Beach Series, Stansberry returned to win the Hammett Prize with The White Devil . Now he comes with The Lizard— part political thriller, part expressionist nightmare—a timely contemporary tale of betrayal, murder and violent transformation, dark stuff laced with the author's signature black humor.The main character, S.E. Reynolds, is a former investigative reporter now working as a political ghostwriter. He is thrust into the center of a conspiracy investigation after an illicit romance turns deadly. His efforts to untangle himself only entangle him deeper, drawing the attention of government agents with their own agenda. An unlikely hero, candidly amoral, shunning idealism, Reynolds works for candidates at either side of the political spectrum. At the same time, he possesses a deep if complicated love for family: his beautiful, unknowable wife; his aging parents; his children. The Lizard is the story of man trapped between a relentless security apparatus and a personal reckoning from which there is no apparent escape. As the tale unfolds, the differences between the outer world and the inner inexorably dissolve, leading to psychic and physical transformation at once unimaginable and inevitable. The Lizard is forthcoming from Molotov Editions with a release date of May 15. 2025. Two earlier novels, The White Devil and The Confession , winners of Hammett and Edgar Awards, will be re-released at the same time, also from Molotov Editions. From one of America's top noir authors ... A book for our times. If you're looking for characters with depth, beautiful prose and a gut-clenching conspiracy, The Lizard by Domenic Stansberry is what you need. CrimeFictionLover The Lizard opens with a rich first-person bang and keeps delivering ... Stansberry's metaphorical, atmospheric descriptions supercharge the first-person experience with reflections that contrast the safety of and longing for home with murdee ... a multifaceted, rich story, realistic, fast paced: an absolutely compelling read. The Midwest Book Review , Diane Donovan A search for a missing journalist uncovers layers of conspiracy and betrayal in Domenic Stansberry's intriguing novel ... Reynolds is a flawed, dimensional hero. A family man and an adept journalist (who) probes his own psyche even as he seeks the truth ... haunting ... hallucinatory ... vibrant. Foreword Reviews , Ho Lin The Lizard is not a book for those who are looking for formulaic crime with all the standard elements, nor is it a book for readers looking for a quick, light read ... No way. Stansberry writes with depth and intensity, and his prose in some places moves into the realm of the hallucinatory and the metaphorical , with the effect of leaving the reader looking beyond this world deep into another more broken one. It is dark (with) a strong noir vibe, in which we follow a man straight into his own personal sort of hell—and I loved every second of it. Crime Segments, Nancy Oakes "A compelling noir that shades into the abstract and strange in wonderful and unexpected ways. Kind of like what you might get if you crossed Jim Thompson's The Getaway with a 70s paranoid political thriller, and then injected both with a crazed 21st century grinning haplessness. Brian Evenson, Shirley Jackson Award Winner "Stansberry is an extraordinarily evocative writer." George Pelecanos, writer/producer The Wire "Edgar-Winner Stansberry takes the reader on a wild ride in this exceptional noir. Publishers Weekly "(Starred Review) on THE WHITE DEVIL "A glittering noir triumph.... recounted in a delirious, shimmeringly erotic flow, The White Devil is a possessed, fever dream of a book, an unwise third cocktail that proves impossible to resist." The Irish Times MORE PRAISE FOR DOMENIC STANSBERRY "Suspense.... Illicit Passion... Murder... Stansberry does it with originality, through the freshness of his imagery and the lyricism of his lament for times that change, neighborhoods that grow old and people who can never find their way home." New York Times on Last Days of Il Duce " "Brilliantly imagined ... packs an emotional wallop genre fiction rarely delivers. Kirkus (Starred Review) on North Beach Mystery Series "Compelling ... Equal parts contemporary crime fiction and dark, existential poetry" Publishers Weekly on Ancient Rain DOMENIC STANSBERRY is a crime novelist, editor and essayist known primarily for his innovative noir fiction that skirts the edges of the genre while exploring the intricacies of criminal consciousness. Among his earlier books are The White Devil, a sultry, decadent thriller that received the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers. The Confession received the Edgar Award from the Myster