Welcome to Litsy!

The Long Fire by Meghan Tifft is a crime thriller with an unusual detective who suffers from a condition known as "pica." Natalie's "disorder" compels her to literally devour what she reads, peeling the pages off books. Natalie manages to lead an otherwise normal, albeit lonely, life. A dark, attractive figure, she struggles with relationships and is still dealing with fallout from her break-up with a doctor. With her mother killed in a tragic house fire, and her drug addict brother, Eliot, missing for years, Natalie and her father Boris only have each other, until Boris receives a voicemail indicates Natalie's mother is still alive. Natalie begins to trace the history and roots of her mother's mysterious gypsy family, with all indicators seeming to link the family's penchant for arson fraud with her mom's death. When she suddenly reunites with her long-lost brother everything is turned upside down. Narrowly escaping an attempt on her life, Natalie continues to probe her mother's past. With the Gypsy community tracking her every move, Natalie resolves to confront the tragic figure at the heart of the mystery: the dead matriarch herself. Smart, elegiac writing make this page-turning, literary thriller an intriguing mystery.