New York: Viking, (2003.) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - The second thriller featuring Baltimore County narcotics cop Luther Ewing, an edgy, half-black, half Vietnamese, ex special forces soldier. Violent and stereotyped, this is still exciting reading - one reviewer described the first book in the series as a 'devil's bargain, trading in every shred of social conscience for raw,breathless pulp momentum.' The identity of the writer behind this pseudonym has attracted much speculation, with some suggesting it might be Wiliam Vollmann (the publisher describes the author as a prizewinning, critically acclaimed literary writer.) However, if 'Crow' was not deliberately being misleading, in one interview he said he published his first novel in 1995, which eliminates Vollmann - not to mention the fact that even Vollmann's earlier semi-legible signatures bear no resemblence to the signature in this book. ISBN: 0-670-032220.