Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: From the Dust: A Novel by David Swinson

  

I am a huge fan of David Swinson’s Frank Marr trilogy about a former DC cop turned private investigator and drug addict. Swinson himself is a retired police detective from the DC Metropolitan Police Department and his writing speaks with an insider’s knowledge of police operations.

In his newest book, released by Mulholland Books at the end of March, Swinson leaves the big city for a small town in rural upstate New York, south of the midpoint between Rochester and Syracuse. Graham Sanderson’s father has died and Sanderson has come to stay with his younger brother Tommy who has PTSD and severe agoraphobia, such that he has not left his father’s house for years. Sanderson’s wife died three years previously and he’s still grieving. The death of his father and his retirement from his long-time job only heightens his general sense of loss.

Police chief Bill Finn had been friends with the elder Mr. Sanderson and dropped in on the brothers a few days after the funeral. In passing he mentioned a local homicide, a rarity in the area, and his lack of trained personnel to investigate and dearth of staff in general. Days later the second murder occurred and Finn asked Sanderson to assist his newly hired detective. The victims both had the local dive and druggie hangout in common but not much came from questioning the regulars at the bar who were reluctant to rat on their buddies. By the time the third murder occurred, both Finn and Sanderson realized they had a bona fide serial killer at work in their tiny town.

This book is a significant departure from Swinson’s earlier books, which were all set in large cities. In a small town everyone knows everyone else and the killer almost inevitably is part of the closed village social circle. Swinson shows Sanderson slowly shifting into a new phase of his life as he adapts to the relaxed pace of life and the rural environment as well as beginning to move past the loss of his wife and his career. Fans of regional mysteries will enjoy the strong descriptions of rural New York, an area that does not get nearly as much attention in crime fiction as the metropolis in the southern part of the state.

For fans of regional mysteries and small-town police procedurals. Starred review from Publishers Weekly. 

 

·         Publisher: ‎Mulholland Books

·         Publication date: ‎March 31, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎320 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎031652865X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-0316528658

 

  

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4ccY7vQ

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.