{"product_id":"2940169233964","title":"The Blackbird Papers: A Novel (Abridged)","description":"A rainy night . . . A stranded motorist . . . A Good Samaritan passerby ¿ a Nobel Prize-winning professor . . . The setup for a shocking murder designed to cover up an even more sinister crime . . . \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Blackbird Papers\u003c\/i\u003e marks the debut of Ian Smith, a major new talent in crime fiction, and of Sterling Bledsoe, his smart and occasionally combative sleuth. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWorld-renowned Dartmouth professor Wilson Bledsoe is returning from a party celebrating his latest honor when he encounters a broken-down pickup on the secluded country road to his home. The next day, the discovery of his body with a vicious racist epithet carved into his chest leads to the quick arrest of two loathsome white supremacists. The local authorities seem ready to accept the case at face value as a racial hate crime. But the murdered professor's brother, FBI agent Sterling Bledsoe, has inserted himself into the investigation and isn't ready to buy into this pat solution. A look around his brother's lab and brief interviews with his students and colleagues pique Sterling's curiosity about Wilson's pet project: a nearly completed paper on the mysterious deaths of hundreds of local blackbirds. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFast-paced and cleverly constructed, \u003ci\u003eThe Blackbird Papers\u003c\/i\u003e introduces a major new talent in mystery and crime fiction.","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47097808224496,"sku":"2940169233964","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940169233964_p0.jpg?v=1763676157","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940169233964","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}