A vivid cast of drifters, Gypsies, erotomaniacs, and amateur criminals, populate this gritty noir set in Lawndale, VA, a down-at-the-heels suburb of the Nation’s Capital. At center lies an unlikely gang of conspirators: washed-up Hollywood screenwriter

Mike Begg fighting to regain the family he lost; Halsey Taylor, a Naval Academy dropout and professional drunk consumed by dreams of the heroic past; and disaffected local youth Wes, a self-taught philosopher and would-be bank-robber. All are entangled with Dejana (Jane) Manouche, a dangerously alluring French Gypsy who strips nightly at Lawndale’s seedy Gentleman’s Club. At stake, millions in illegal cash locked away in a crumbling estate on a lake infested with mutant, flesh-eating carp.

Acclaimed novelist Robert Girardi returns to form with Extravagant People, an edgy, character-driven suburban noir set during the Financial Crisis of 2008. Crackling with sardonic humor, it casts a light on America’s most volatile demographic fault-lines—and illuminates the darkness existing in every human heart. Robert Girardi is the author of several highly praised works of fiction, including Madeleine’s Ghost, Vaporetto 13 and the story collection A Vaudeville of Devils, 7 Moral Tales. He has written extensively for film and television and is a past recipient of the James Michener Fellowship, among other awards. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, Harpers Magazine, The New Republic, Tri-Quarterly and elsewhere. He lives with his daughter in Washington D.C.