The Cry of Cicadas

A wounded ex-NYPD detective investigates murder and espionage on the coast of California in the early days of WWII.

Autumn, 1941—Max Byrns was once a high-flying NYPD detective, but his career ended the night he took a bullet intended for another officer. The shooting left scars both physical and emotional. Now his wife Elizabeth has given up her own successful career at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art so that Max can recover in the peaceful town on the California coast where she and the rest of her wealthy Schuyler family once summered.

In San Ignacio, they buy a house from a local Japanese strawberry farmer, Tadeo Suzuki. Elizabeth freelances in art restoration while Max and Tadeo become fast friends over chess and creating a Zen garden for their new home. But as the clouds of war gather, Max and Elizabeth worry about their son, Philip, serving in the Army Air Corps, and about the growing anti-Japanese sentiment in San Ignacio. When war finally comes, their simple, happy life is turned upside down along with the rest of the world.

Soon, Max, aided by Elizabeth, is drawn back into detective work to solve a murder that hits close to home, as well as deadly espionage activities on the coast of California. In doing so, Max must also finally deal with his own demons.

The Cry of Cicadas is the first novel in the BYRNS ON THE HOMEFRONT series. The second, Play It in Between, features Max and Elizabeth investigating a murder on the movie set of Casablanca.

Jones, dubbed “one of the jewels of the historical mystery scene” by the San Francisco Book Review, brings domestic drama, historical nuance, suspense, and action to this series as he did in his popular and critically acclaimed VIENNESE MYSTERY series, as well as in stand-alone thrillers such as Time of the Wolf , Basic Law, Ruin Value, and The Edit.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT PREVIOUS

VIENNESE MYSTERY SERIES

The Empty Mirror

“A meaty historical that bodes well for further adventures.” – Publishers Weekly

Requiem in Vienna

“Sophisticated entertainment of a very high caliber.” – Kirkus Reviews

“A first-class historical mystery.” – Booklist

The Silence

“The intricate plot unfolds with suspense and style.” – Kirkus Reviews

The Keeper of Hands

“Jones recreates the beau monde of vintage Vienna with verisimilitude and consummate style.” – Kirkus Reviews

A Matter of Breeding

“One of the series best at combining plot and historical background.” – Publishers Weekly

The Third Place

“This masterfully plotted tale offers an intimate and revealing portrait of turn-of-the-century Vienna, with fine characterizations, gentle humor, clever dialogue.” – Booklist

STAND-ALONE WORKS

Hitler in Vienna (biography)

“Lively and perceptive.” *New York Review of Books.

Viennawalks* (travel guide)

“A delight.