Book cover for Violent Spring (Deluxe Edition) by Gary Phillips

Violent Spring (Deluxe Edition)

2024 Released
320 Pages
4-5 Hours
Audiobook Unavailable
Paperback Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Soho CrimeISBN 9781641294409

The mystery that launched Gary Phillips's career: Black private eye Ivan Monk investigates the murder of a Korean shop owner in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

This reissued edition features an introduction by Walter Mosley.


In 1992, Los Angeles burned. In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, a ground-breaking ceremony at the infamous intersection of Florence and Normandie unearths the body of a Korean shop owner. Black private eye Ivan Monk searches for the killer—many suspect the motives for the murder were racial. But then another body turns up, and while the FBI and the Rolling Daltons—the largest gang in the city—dog Monk’s trail, Monk begins to question just how many people will be involved, and how many will die before he can find the truth.

Gary Phillips

Gary Phillips' acclaimed crime novels chronicle the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles through the jaundiced eyes of his African-American investigator Ivan Monk. He is a long-standing LA political activist and labor organizer. His new political murder mystery, Citizen Kang, is currently being serialized online by The Nation.

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