Silt: A Historical Novella about 1856 Cincinnati by Chris Geier

“Goes down like a slug of good whiskey – smooth, with just the right amount of burn.”

—Sara Rauch, author of

. German immigrant Werner Bosenbach has a part-time job collecting shady debts and a full-time drinking habit. When he is hired by a wealthy widow to hunt down those responsible for her husband’s death, Werner is drawn deep into a city bursting with corruption, nativism, and long-simmering racial tension. From violent dock workers and crooked marshals, to operators of the underground railroad and the slave hunters they oppose, Werner must navigate the dangers and divisions of his adopted home to find some answers and, with any luck, some lager.

Appealing to fans of Raymond Chandler’s drunken detective Marlowe meets Cormac McCarthy’s oddball preachers and wanderers, and filled in at the cracks by the immersive atmosphere of Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor, travels to the overlooked past of the Midwest with a story that still rings all too familiar today, humming with debut author Chris Geier’s poetic prose and unique eye for detail. Part mystery, part thriller, part crime noir, part literary historical, brims with dark humor and timeliness.

CHRIS GEIER lives in western Massachusetts with his wife and children. is his first book.