See her run

Disgraced former L.A. reporter Aloa Snow doesn't have the bank account or the pride to turn down a paying research gig for her estranged foster brother. Fortunately, the owners of a local restaurant and the old anarchists and rebels who drink there have become a surrogate family, offering unconditional support. (And, when things get rough, a little backup.) Then Aloa gets a chance to do some real investigatory work, looking into the death of a documentarian named Hayley Poole, whose dehydrated body was found in the Nevada desert with alcohol and LSD in her system. Local cops call it a suicide. Aloa's job is to figure out if that's too easy an answer. An award-winning journalist herself, Townsend has created a nuanced young protagonist. Aloa is recovering from an eating disorder, but every mealtime or hunger pang is a subconscious trigger to count calories and then experience the guilt at having been compelled to do so. This could be the beginning of an intriguing series.--Keefe, Karen Copyright 2018 Booklist

Journalist Aloa Snow, the appealing heroine of Townsend's gripping first novel and series launch, loses her job at the Los Angeles Times after an article she wrote about Vietnamese nail salon workers turns out to have a fictitious source. She moves from L.A. to San Francisco, where she contends with debt and anorexia for the next couple of years. Then she gets a phone call from Michael Collins, whom she hasn't heard from in 18 years and with whom she has a fraught past. Michael, a philanthropist who has founded an independent newsroom, asks Aloa to investigate the apparent suicide of 25-year-old adventure runner Hayley Poole during a camping trip in the Nevada desert. Reluctantly, she takes the assignment despite her fears that reentering the world of journalism and reconnecting with him may resurrect her insecurities and aggravate her eating disorder. Aloa's pursuit of the story of Hayley's death plunges her into a world of murder and corporate intrigue. Readers will look forward to seeing more of plucky Aloa. Agent: Heather Jackson, Heather Jackson Literary Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Investigating an apparent suicide by overdose forces a former reporter to confront her own past.When disgraced reporter Aloa Snow starts to dig into the death of Hayley Poole, she's in it for the paycheck and not the mystery. The $15,000 promised her for fleshing out the story would go a long way to covering her debts, and her name's been worthless in the reporting world ever since she fudged some facts rushing out a story while dealing with her mother's death. If Aloa had another option to earn the cash, she'd take it, because she doesn't want Michael Collins, the guy behind the dollars, to think he has any right to her time or attention. A long time ago, when they were still in school, tragedy struck Michael's family, and Aloa's dad insisted on taking Michael in and raising him alongside his daughterwhich was all well and good until Michael took off one day without a word, breaking Aloa's heart along with her father's. Now Michael's grown rich as a software developer, and his interest in this case simultaneously intrigues and angers Aloa, who's developing her own relationship to the history surrounding Hayley. The dead woman was a professional adventure runner along with her boyfriend, Ethan, who was killed under mysterious circumstance six months before Hayley died. Aloa uncovers connections between Hayley's life, a dietary supplement gone wrong, international terrorism, and other possible motives for murder, but given the drugs found in Hayley's system, the cops are likely to write this off as an addict come to a bad end unless Aloa can unravel the truth.Townsend's debut is driven by brisk plotting with bursts of stylish prose. Her eye for sharp character details makes her one to watch. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.