College basketball, racial division, and this intersection “of the personal and of the political” are driving elements of David Tomlinson’s debut novel The Midnight Man. Join us in welcoming Tomlinson and his book at the Wild Detectives. If you do and get a copy for yourself, you will be swept away by the author’s ability to pace the book and his creation of compelling characters.

Summer, 1994. Dean Goodnight, the first Choctaw Indian employed by the Oklahoma County public defender’s office, pulls a new case—the brutal murder of a once-promising basketball star. The only witness is Caleb, the five-year-old son of the prime suspect, Billy. Investigating the murder, Dean draws four strangers into Billy’s orbit, each of whom becomes deeply invested in the suspect’s fate—and in Caleb’s. There’s Aura Jefferson, the victim’s sister, a nurse struggling with the loss of her brother; Aura’s patient Cecil Porter, a paraplegic whose own dreams of playing pro basketball were shattered fifty years ago: Cecil’s brother, the entrepreneur and political manipulator “Big” Ben Porter; and Ben’s wife, Becca, who discovers a link between the young Caleb and her own traumatic past.

As Billy’s trial approaches, these five are forced to confront their deepest disappointments, hopes, and fears. And when tragedy strikes again, their lives are forever entwined.

David Eric Tomlinson was born and raised in Oklahoma. He has worked in a variety of jobs in the marketing and advertising industry before turning his time and talents to the writing of novels. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and their two daughters. This is his first novel.

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