The Second Girl

By: David Swinson

Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant

He's a good detective...with a bad habit.

"One of the Year's Best Crime Novels"-The New York Times Book Review, Booklist

Frank Marr knows crime in Washington, DC. A decorated former police detective, he retired early and now ekes a living as a private eye for a defense attorney. Frank Marr may be the best investigator the city has ever known, but the city doesn't know his dirty secret.

A high-functioning drug addict, Frank has devoted his considerable skills to hiding his usage from others. But after accidentally discovering a kidnapped teenage girl in the home of an Adams Morgan drug gang, Frank becomes a hero and is thrust into the spotlight. He reluctantly agrees to investigate the disappearance of another girl -- possibly connected to the first -- but the heightened scrutiny may bring his own secrets to light, too.

Frank is as slippery and charming an antihero as you've ever met, but he's also achingly vulnerable. The result is a mystery of startling intensity, a tightly coiled thriller where every scene may turn disastrous. The Second Girl is the crime novel of the season, and marks the start of a refreshing series from an author who knows the criminal underworld inside and out.

Critic reviews

"The Second Girl is a terrific DC crime novel."—@shoedog11 (George Pelecanos)

"Within the first couple of pages, David Swinson pulls off a masterly piece of characterization: he creates a damaged, damned protagonist who no sane person would want to get close to, and then he grabs you by the collar and hauls you into Frank Marr's mind so fast and so thoroughly that none of that matters. The writing throws sparks, and the ferocious plot peels back layer after layer of Frank's character as we - and he - find out how much of his humanity is still left."—Tana French, author of The Secret Place

"Once you're drawn into Frankie Marr's world (in, oh, the first few pages of this fine novel), you won't want to leave. Marr is one of the most compelling and complex protagonists to come along in years. And, not content with just creating a memorable hero, author Swinson also offers up a breakneck plot, which he recounts in muscular prose and with a commanding knowledge of cops, bad guys and the streets of Washington, D.C. Reminiscent of The Wire and the writing of George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, The Second Girl is a winner."—Jeffrey Deaver, author of The Kill Room

"It's actually refreshing to pick up The Second Girl."—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

"This is the DC crime novel you should be reading this summer . . . The delight of The Second Girl is how smoothly its engine runs . . . [Marr's] character just works. He's damaged enough to prove interesting, and self-aware enough not to drive a reader batty."—Hillary Kelly, Washingtonian

"Frank Marr turns the PI mold on its head; he's an addict with a self-serving vigilante streak. But he's also a pretty decent guy deep down who works the streets with expertise, and readers will be fascinated by the day-in-the-life perspective of an unrepentant cocaine addict. A gritty knockout debut that screams for a series."—Booklist (starred)

"An auspicious, and gleefully amoral, series debut . . . Swinson, himself a former D.C. police detective, brings the neighborhood and its criminal underworld to gritty life. . . . Marr may be a disaster on legs, but he gets inside a reader's head with ease. . . . It's good news that this is merely an introduction to a character who plans to return."—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"The book's action is forever on the boil."—Jack Batten, Toronto Star

"[A] sweaty, suspenseful saga . . . This book will sell like crazy."—Long Beach Press Telegram

Great Series Starter

The plot and character development were great! The storyline was well written so as to keep you from putting down the book.

Gritty cop novel, a must for DC locals

You can tell this cop novel was written by someone who knows DC...and not the more infamous political side of things, but the actual living, breathing city. Great depiction of a flawed hero and of a very real human trafficking crisis that impacts even the upper middle class neighborhoods of suburban Virginia. I hope Swinton will bring back Frank Marr for another round of troubled triumph.

A former cop and no rules!

Wow! I ended up really liking this story and hope we hear more from this character! The author likes street names and I feel like I could navigate DC. Frank is a former cop, now private eye and he has no rules to contain him and he fully exploits that! I will definitely be on the look-out for more Frank Marr! I loved the narration...he even sounded like a cop!

A Cop on Cocaine with a conscience (some time)

What for it.....

A very interesting book. You have to keep listening as it is a ways in the book before you understand who the girls are.

While snooping through a dope house he finds a young girl being held hostage a fed drugs. Not what he hopes to find, but he can't leave her. And, he can't take her to the police with all the drugs he is holding.

When the news gets out, he is contacted by parents whose daughter went to school with the girl he rescued. Willing to pay to have him locate their daughter, he finds himself in the middle of a drug infested area of town, constantly watching over his shoulders. Using his bag of tricks from years as a police officer, he dives into the neighborhood driven by the courage given to him by cocaine. Just enough false courage to get him killed.

Fantastic book

This is one of the best book that I listen in a long time.Once you started you can not put it down. Great story and fantastic narration . You will not be disappointed .