"Lee Martin is a brilliant chronicler of small-town life, and in The Evening Shades , set in 1972, he vividly portrays two midwestern communities in the aftermath of a child's mysterious murder. Nevertheless, Martin's ultimate concerns are beyond time and place as he delves into the deepest, and often most unsettling, mysteries of all--those of the human heart." --Ron Rash, author of New York Times bestselling novel, Serena "Who would guess that a cowardly math teacher, fleeing from dubious crimes, and a long time spinster, guilty of fraudulent promises to her library, would fall truly in love? Certainly not their neighbours in Mt. Gilead, nor this reader. The Evening Shades is gorgeously written and suspenseful in the best way. Martin makes us care deeply about his vivid characters. An absorbing novel from a writer at the height of his powers." -- Margot Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven "Lee Martin deftly eases us into the minds of two Midwestern towns and several of their most isolated residents.

This quiet but intense battle between the instinct for self-preservation and a desperate hunger for connection is both unsettling and familiar." -- John Sayles, filmmaker and author of Jamie MacGillivray "There is not another American writer living today who better understands our Midwest and the people who live there than Lee Martin. In The Evening Shades , Martin explores grief and betrayal, love and hope, loneliness and redemption in small midwestern towns in 1972 when two broken people come together in surprising ways. I simply love this book." --Ann Hood, author of The Stolen Child "Taking place in the aftermath of a horrific crime in 1970's small-town America, Lee Martin's The Evening Shades is an eloquent and quietly moving novel; and the way he is able to enter so completely into the lives of his characters is absolutely astonishing." -- Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Devil All the Time & The Heavenly Table " The Evening Shades begins with the death of a young girl, in a town where many people have a piece of the puzzle but don't know how to share their knowledge with each other. People try to move on with their lives, but the death causes tension that creates new problems that threaten the entire sense of community that people have counted on. How can a town carry grief sorrow without losing its sense of community? Lee Martin has written another compelling story that is both a page turner and full of wisdom.

" -- Alice Elliot Dark, author of Fellowship Point.