From Publishers Weekly
Aleas's debut barrels forth at the speed of one of the Manhattan taxis its protagonist frequently catches and contains some whiplash-inducing plot twists. John Blake, an NYU dropout turned PI, is stunned to learn that his high school girlfriend, Miranda, who he thought went to medical school and then on to lead a tame life in the Midwest, actually became a stripper. Even more shocking—she's been murdered. Angry and confused, Blake looks into Miranda's past, beginning at a 10th-rate strip joint owned by some unsavory characters. A dancer there helps him at her peril, and he endures some beatings himself as he nears the surprise conclusion. Still, despite the seedy settings, Aleas's writing is more tinged with insight than blood; Blake reflects that "there is such a thing as... a sense of duty to the things of your past, even if they're not quite as beautiful as you remember." Gritty New York streets and scummy apartments flash by briskly, but Aleas has a detective's eye for detail, which allows him to create some atmospheric scenes (when Blake walks through a busy section of Queens, he notes everything from the kosher certification sign in a bakery's window to a drugstore's "out-of-season Coppertone displays"). Tightly written from start to finish, this crime novel is as satisfyingly edgy as the pulp classics that inspired it. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
When Dorchester Publishing's new Hard Case Crime line launched in September 2004 (with Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block and Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips), it promised readers "the best in hard-boiled crime fiction." Hard Case Crime delivers another installment on that promise with an edgy, gripping and gritty modern noir: Little Girl Lost, a first novel by Richard Aleas.

Private investigator John Blake grew up in New York City, and he thought he'd pretty much seen it all. But he never expected to see Miranda Sugarman's yearbook picture under the Daily News headline "Stripper Murdered." Ten years ago, just before that dated photo had been taken, Miranda had been his first serious girlfriend. When they'd parted company right after high school, she'd had big plans for her future -- including college and a career as an ophthalmologist. Now John needs to know how she ended up stripping in a sleazy New York club with a future as dead as her dreams. Her gruesome fate is the final blow that pushes John Blake to reopen that lost chapter in his past, to learn the truth about Miranda's secret life and lay his conscience and his dead lover's memory to rest. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Miranda Sugarman was supposed to be in the Midwest, working as an eye doctor. So how did she wind up shot to death on the roof of New York￯﾿ﾽs seediest strip club? It￯﾿ﾽs up to detective John Blake to uncover his ex-girlfriend￯﾿ﾽs secret life as a striptease queen. But the deeper he digs, the darker the secrets he uncovers, until a shattering face-off in an East Village tenement changes his life forever...

First time in paperback -- a stunning debut novel from an author whose stories have been selected for BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR and THE YEAR￯﾿ﾽS BEST HORROR STORIES, as well as short-listed for the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Aleas's debut barrels forth at the speed of one of the Manhattan taxis its protagonist frequently catches and contains some whiplash-inducing plot twists. John Blake, an NYU dropout turned PI, is stunned to learn that his high school girlfriend, Miranda, who he thought went to medical school and then on to lead a tame life in the Midwest, actually became a stripper. Even more shocking-she's been murdered. Angry and confused, Blake looks into Miranda's past, beginning at a 10th-rate strip joint owned by some unsavory characters. A dancer there helps him at her peril, and he endures some beatings himself as he nears the surprise conclusion. Still, despite the seedy settings, Aleas's writing is more tinged with insight than blood; Blake reflects that "there is such a thing as... a sense of duty to the things of your past, even if they're not quite as beautiful as you remember." Gritty New York streets and scummy apartments flash by briskly, but Aleas has a detective's eye for detail, which allows him to create some atmospheric scenes (when Blake walks through a busy section of Queens, he notes everything from the kosher certification sign in a bakery's window to a drugstore's "out-of-season Coppertone displays"). Tightly written from start to finish, this crime novel is as satisfyingly edgy as the pulp classics that inspired it. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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