Restoration Heights, Wil Medearis’ socially conscious, Brooklyn-based mystery, debuted to significant praise. The New York Times-reviewed book was a CrimeReads Best Noir Fiction pick, and Library Journal called it “A big-bang debut.”
The story follows Reddick, a struggling artist in Bedford-Stuyvesant, who makes ends meet by working as an art handler for the rich and privileged. Reddick is also the last person who saw the fiancé of a wealthy art-collector/real estate investor before she went missing. When the woman’s fiancé seems unperturbed by her disappearance, Reddick does some investigating on his own, which pulls him into a complex mystery that forces him to confront the dark side of power and gentrification in the neighborhood he loves.
Medearis was kind enough to share the query that won him representation. The letter is also a great reminder that persistence makes all the difference. Medearis sent it to an agent who had requested and passed on a different manuscript. Luckily, this one fit the bill.
Ms. Garrick,
Last winter you were kind enough to request a full of my first manuscript (a sort-of-sci-fi mystery called The Disk), an unwieldy project that I have since set aside in order to focus on my new novel, Restoration Heights. In light of your previous interest, I thought you might like to see the new one, which channels my love of detective fiction, in particular the genre’s capacity to tap the veins of pervasive social issues like institutional corruption and racial discord. I was also encouraged to reach out to you by an acquaintance of mine, Agnes Krup, a literary scout who worked for Mr. Karpfinger in the past and thought that your agency might be a good fit.
Restoration Heights begins as a missing person story in the historically black Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant, in the shadow of a massive and controversial real estate development. Reddick, a white, thirty-something, failed artist, is the last person to see Hannah before she goes missing. When her art collector fiancée—who is also an investor in the real estate development—seems strangely disinterested in her disappearance, Reddick sets out to discover what happened to her. The answer is buried within a complex and layered mystery; as it unravels the novel opens into a grim look at the moral and psychological effects of gentrification and the deep racial tension that it fosters. Think Raymond Chandler meets James Baldwin, by way of the neo-noir of early Jonathan Letham. It’s fast-paced and brief, at about 77,000 words.
Restoration Heights would be my first published novel. A native Floridian, I have worked my way up the east coast, studying at the University of North Carolina in Asheville and the University of Pennsylvania; I currently live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, a neighborhood whose ability to remain vital and eclectic despite the leveling forces of economic development continues to inspire me.
Per your preference, I have copied the first five pages below. Thank you for you time.
Wil Medearis
Comments