When Shelba Rook's home burns down, he realizes he has nothing left. What's a jobless, homeless private detective to do? He's feeling more than a little lost.
Shelba Rook's "home" was in fact a room in a Harlem brothel. Not only does the catastrophic fire at Auberge Rouge take the few items he could call his earthly possessions; it ends up killing an innocent woman.
As Rook struggles to find a job, his thoughts keep returning to the woman at the Auberge Rouge. Who was she? Did someone set the fire intending to kill her? As Rook ponders these mysteries, he stumbles on one of Harlem's best-kept secrets-the Ross Agency.
The detective agency, run by the magnanimous Norment Ross and his far more practical daughter, Sabrina, takes tiny neighborhood cases the police are too busy to solve. They're looking for a new agent, and Rook knows a job is a job. Rook may look down on the types of cases Norment and Brina take, but the two will prove to be invaluable allies as he searches for an arsonist and a murderer. From tiny cases to huge investigations, the Ross Agency is ready for anything!
About the Author: Delia C. Pitts spent eleven years as an officer in the US Foreign Service. Her work took her to Nigeria, Mauritania, Mexico, and other exotic locales. Pitts went on to spend twenty years as a university administrator.
Pitts's first work was a pastiche of The Black Stallion she wrote in the second grade. Pitts has contributed to newspapers in her hometown of Chicago, Illinois, and has written over sixty fan-fiction stories under the pen name "blacktop."
Pitts lives with her husband in central New Jersey. They have two grown sons.
