A01=Clifford Beal
amateur sleuth
Author_Clifford Beal
Category=FF
Category=FH
coming of age
dark secrets suspicion
eq_bestseller
eq_crime
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_thrillers
fast-paced gripping
murder investigation
psychological domestic suspense
small town murder mystery
Product details
- ISBN 9781916227446
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 16 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Little Brigand Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Billy just discovered a body. Discovering the truth could be worse.
It's 1968: Billy McCaskill is sixteen, on the verge of scoring his driver's license, and enjoying an idyllic summer in a year of national turmoil. Turmoil that's a world away from his life with pals and finding a girlfriend. Inseparable from his best friend Paulie, that August the two sneak off on a clandestine camp-out on private property reserved for their Boy Braves troop.
But they soon stumble upon a corpse, and they recognize who the victim is. Billy knows the only people who are aware of the place are a handful of troop committee men -- including both their fathers. Even more damning, he finds evidence near the shallow grave that could point to his father's involvement -- a discovery he conceals from Paulie. Once the police are called in, Billy's doubts about his father -- and Paulie's -- begin to mount.
Now, somehow, he must decide what to do: lie and save his family, tell the truth to the police, or find out himself what really happened. Before the police do.
If you liked the suspense of Stephen King's The Body, or Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, then you'll relish Little Sins. A gripping novel of lost innocence and impossible choices.
It's 1968: Billy McCaskill is sixteen, on the verge of scoring his driver's license, and enjoying an idyllic summer in a year of national turmoil. Turmoil that's a world away from his life with pals and finding a girlfriend. Inseparable from his best friend Paulie, that August the two sneak off on a clandestine camp-out on private property reserved for their Boy Braves troop.
But they soon stumble upon a corpse, and they recognize who the victim is. Billy knows the only people who are aware of the place are a handful of troop committee men -- including both their fathers. Even more damning, he finds evidence near the shallow grave that could point to his father's involvement -- a discovery he conceals from Paulie. Once the police are called in, Billy's doubts about his father -- and Paulie's -- begin to mount.
Now, somehow, he must decide what to do: lie and save his family, tell the truth to the police, or find out himself what really happened. Before the police do.
If you liked the suspense of Stephen King's The Body, or Dennis Lehane's Mystic River, then you'll relish Little Sins. A gripping novel of lost innocence and impossible choices.
Clifford Beal is a former defense and foreign affairs journalist and the author of eight novels including the Sir John Hawker trilogy of historical thrillers as well as short fiction in such publications as Mystery Tribune. He was born and raised in Rhode Island. Read more at cliffordbeal.com
