![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/hero-image-MF-v3.jpg)
Two worlds, one detective
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/hero_bookcover_MF_v2_900x1200-600x800.png)
“Tough but true: a first-time novelist has to bring something new to the table — something like the trumps that William Landay throws down in his high-stakes police procedural Mission Flats.”
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/NY_Times_logo_transparent_1000x132-600x79.png)
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CWA_logo_500x500.jpg)
Winner of the CWA Dagger Award as Best First Crime Novel
Widely hailed as one of the best debut crime novels of 2003, Mission Flats is the story of a young, thoughtful small-town cop caught up in a furious big-city manhunt. It is at once a page-turning mystery, a family drama, and a vivid portrait of police life. Here are the streetcorners, courtrooms, and stationhouses; the dealmakers, thugs, and quiet heroes.
By a gleaming lake in the forests of western Maine, outside a sleepy little town called Versailles, the body of a man lies sprawled in a deserted cabin. The dead man was an elite D.A. from Boston, and his beat was that city’s toughest neighborhood: Mission Flats.
Now, for small-town police chief Ben Truman—part Maine Yankee, part student of history, and altogether a reluctant young policeman—investigating the murder will require a journey to a world of mean streets and hard bargains.
Ben joins a manhunt through Mission Flats, where cops are scrambling to find their number-one suspect: Harold Braxton, a ruthless predator targeted for prosecution by the murdered D.A. To the Boston police, he is a marked man.
But as Ben watches the shadow dance of police and suspects, he begins to voice doubts about Braxton’s guilt—especially when he uncovers a secret history of murder and retribution stretching back twenty years—to a brutal cop killing now nearly forgotten.
Praise for Mission Flats
Landay writes with eloquent intensity
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/NYT_400x400-150x150.png)
New York Times
A crackling debut that answers the question: Who will be the new Grisham?
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Kirkus_400x400-150x150.png)
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)Marks the blooding of a major new talent, with shades of George Higgins and Scott Turow.
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Guardian_400x400-1-150x150.png)
The Guardian
Genuinely shocking
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Boston_Globe_logo_400x400-150x150.jpg)
Boston Globe
A stunning debut, heralding the arrival of a major new voice in mystery fiction. Landay’s action scenes are electric, his characters unforgettable. Read this book!
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Rick_Riordan_500x500-150x150.jpg)
Rick Riordan
New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians seriesLanday deals out pertinent details with the finesse of a poker player. … A rich, harrowing and delightful read.
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/PW_500x500-150x150.jpg)
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)An excruciatingly suspenseful thriller.… Landay gives us an original detective creation in the humorous, self-deprecating Truman, and he also delivers an action-packed plot with a skillfully detonated final surprise.
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Booklist-150x150.png)
Booklist
(starred review)Landay is a superb writer who can evoke visceral emotional reactions with skillful evocative prose, especially when describing a sense of personal loss and the scene of urban loss that is Mission Flats.
![](https://www.williamlanday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Tampa_Bay_Times_400x400-150x150.jpg)