{"product_id":"the-blackbird-papers-a-novel-by-ian-smith","title":"The Blackbird Papers: A Novel by Ian Smith","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rainy night . . . A stranded motorist . . . A Good Samaritan passerby … a Nobel Prize–winning professor . . . The setup for a shocking murder designed to cover up an even more sinister crime . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Blackbird Papers marks the debut of Ian Smith, a major new talent in crime fiction, and of Sterling Bledsoe, his smart and occasionally combative sleuth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorld-renowned Dartmouth professor Wilson Bledsoe is returning from a party celebrating his latest honor when he encounters a broken-down pickup on the secluded country road to his home. The next day, the discovery of his body with a vicious racist epithet carved into his chest leads to the quick arrest of two loathsome white supremacists. The local authorities seem ready to accept the case at face value as a racial hate crime. But the murdered professor’s brother, FBI agent Sterling Bledsoe, has inserted himself into the investigation and isn’t ready to buy into this pat solution. A look around his brother’s lab and brief interviews with his students and colleagues pique Sterling’s curiosity about Wilson’s pet project: a nearly completed paper on the mysterious deaths of hundreds of local blackbirds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFast-paced and cleverly constructed, The Blackbird Papers introduces a major new talent in mystery and crime fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Express","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67734052864074,"sku":"3915aq","price":8.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0618\/9101\/8826\/files\/3915aq.jpg?v=1792394710","url":"https:\/\/www.bookexpress.nz\/products\/the-blackbird-papers-a-novel-by-ian-smith","provider":"Book Express","version":"1.0","type":"link"}