A Daughter's Tale of Love and Murder

Leah Carroll's Down City is a compelling narrative interwoven with memories and investigative journalism, much like James Ellroy's My Dark Places. Carroll's depiction of Rhode Island is destined to stand alongside Mary Karr's portrayal of her Texas childhood and David Simon's gritty Baltimore. When Leah was just four years old, her mother, an amateur photographer, was mercilessly killed by two drug dealers affiliated with the Mafia. By the time Leah turned eighteen, her charming yet volatile alcoholic father had also passed away. The questions haunted Leah - why did her mother have to die? How did the killer manage to escape with a lenient sentence? What shadows did Leah inherit from her troubled parents? Left to carve her path forward, Leah delves into her past in her memoir, piecing together the puzzle of her parents' lives through interviews, photographs, and police archives.

Down City unfolds as a stark and poignant memoir of a fractured family, set against the backdrop of Rhode Island - a small state where the specters of underworld figures coexist with hardworking, resilient individuals. The narrative is heart-wrenching and bewitching, chronicling the journey of a determined young woman seeking the truth about a mother she never had the chance to know and a father who, despite his flaws, was both her fiercest advocate and most significant obstacle. Leah's quest is a testament to her unwavering resolve to untangle the complexities of her past and illuminate the obscured corners of her family history.

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