Winner, 2022 Georgia Author of the Year (Detective/Mystery)
Acclaimed Southern mystery master Christopher Swann delivers a riveting novel of murder and mayhem perfect for fans of Linwood Barclay and Michael Farris Smith.
A searing story about the ties that bind and how sometimes they begin to strangle us. Christopher Swann has created a nuanced yet thrilling novel of family, grief and ultimately hope. Not to be missed.
—S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears
I don’t know how Swann did it — he’s written a mesmerizing book that’s literary fiction, a spy novel, and a relentless thriller all in one.
—Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Nick Anthony has retreated to the North Carolina mountains to mourn the untimely death of his wife. Once a popular professor, Nick just wants to be left alone with his grief. But when his estranged brother and sister-in-law die in a house fire, a stunned Nick learns he has a niece who is missing…and may be a suspect in her parents’ deaths.
By the time the call came, her parents’ fate was sealed, but sixteen-year-old Annalise escaped the deadly fire with her life—and information someone is willing to kill for. At the scene of the crime, the men who set the fire spotted Annalise, and are now in a desperate search to find her. Feverish and exhausted, Annalise stumbles onto her uncle’s porch. Now Nick must protect her and unravel the mystery of his brother’s death.
Hired to retrieve stolen information at any price, private military contractor Cole and his team track down and kill the thief and his wife. But their daughter has vanished, along with the one thing Cole needs. When his search leads him to Nick’s cabin, Cole figures a retired professor will be easy enough to handle. But Nick has a hidden past of his own—and more than a few deadly tricks up his sleeve.
It’s already been proven that Christopher Swann can offer up fantastic and engaging novels, but with A Fire In The Night, Swann gives us a no-holds-barred action mystery thriller that in nearly impossible to put down. The plot is a speeding bullet and the attention to detail and setting is amazing, but mainly Swann can just flat-out write people. He plays inside the gray area where heroes can sometimes not be so heroic and where villains garner as much sympathy as the protagonists. Swann’s ability to convey a true family dynamic yet never stop churning out cinematic scenes custom-made for the big screen makes Christopher Swann one of the best writers that Georgia—or anywhere for that matter—has to offer.
—Brian Panowich, judge of Detective/Mystery category,
on 2022 Georgia Author of the Year award
“10 must-read Southern books this fall” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Swann really delivers with his latest, a solid murder mystery starring Nick, a grieving former professor with a secret past and an orphaned niece who shows up on his doorstep. Tense and action-packed, with an ending that will make your heart stop, A Fire in the Night is a nail-biter with a Southern twang.
—Kimberly Belle, internationally bestselling author
of Dear Wife and Stranger in the Lake
A rural noir that’s loaded with surprises, Christopher Swann’s A Fire in the Night blends the moral grays of the best espionage stories with a taut, relentless mystery steeped in setting. Character-driven and memorable, A Fire in the Night is Swann’s best yet.
—Alex Segura, award-winning author
of Blackout and Miami Midnight
