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The Lizard
2026 HAMMETT PRIZE FINALIST
S.E. Reynolds is a former investigative reporter now working as a political ghostwriter. He is thrust into the center of a conspiracy investigation after an illicit romance turns deadly. His efforts to untangle himself only entangle him deeper, drawing the attention of government agents with their own agenda.
An unlikely hero, candidly amoral, shunning idealism, Reynolds works for candidates at either side of the political spectrum. At the same time, he possesses a deep if complicated love for his beautiful, unknowable wife; his aging parents; his children.
The Lizard is the story of man trapped between a relentless security apparatus and a personal reckoning from which there is no apparent escape. As the tale unfolds, the differences between the outer world and the inner inexorably dissolve, leading to psychic and physical transformation at once unimaginable and inevitable.
S.E. Reynolds is a former investigative reporter now working as a political ghostwriter. He is thrust into the center of a conspiracy investigation after an illicit romance turns deadly. His efforts to untangle himself only entangle him deeper, drawing the attention of government agents with their own agenda.
An unlikely hero, candidly amoral, shunning idealism, Reynolds works for candidates at either side of the political spectrum. At the same time, he possesses a deep if complicated love for his beautiful, unknowable wife; his aging parents; his children.
The Lizard is the story of man trapped between a relentless security apparatus and a personal reckoning from which there is no apparent escape. As the tale unfolds, the differences between the outer world and the inner inexorably dissolve, leading to psychic and physical transformation at once unimaginable and inevitable.
272 pages, Paperback
Published May 13, 2025
About the author
Domenic Stansberry
25 books45 followersCrime novelist, editor and essayist known for his innovative noir fiction that skirts the edges of the genre while exploring the intricacies of criminal consciousness. The Lizard, finalist for the 2026 Hammett Prize, is the latest of his award-winning novels.
His other recent books include The White Devil, a sultry, decadent thriller that received the Hammett in 2017. An earlier novel, The Confession, received the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and is regarded as a neo-noir classic.
Other work includes the North Beach Mystery Series—featuring investigator Dante Mancuso — which received wide praise for its portrayal of the ethnic and political subcultures of San Francisco. Books from that series include The Ancient Rain, named several years after its original publication as one of the best crime novels of the decade by Booklist. Stansberry’s novels have been translated into numerous languages, with editions in Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish and Polish among others.
He lives with his wife, poet Gillian Conoley, and their daughter, Gillis, in a small town north of San Francisco.
His other recent books include The White Devil, a sultry, decadent thriller that received the Hammett in 2017. An earlier novel, The Confession, received the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and is regarded as a neo-noir classic.
Other work includes the North Beach Mystery Series—featuring investigator Dante Mancuso — which received wide praise for its portrayal of the ethnic and political subcultures of San Francisco. Books from that series include The Ancient Rain, named several years after its original publication as one of the best crime novels of the decade by Booklist. Stansberry’s novels have been translated into numerous languages, with editions in Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish and Polish among others.
He lives with his wife, poet Gillian Conoley, and their daughter, Gillis, in a small town north of San Francisco.
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