Everyone Knows But You

A Tale of Murder on the Maine Coast

Thomas E. Ricks

An FBI agent finds himself in the insular world of a fishing village on the Maine coast where the rules are different—sometimes lethally so.

After his wife and two children are killed in a car crash, Ryan Tapia starts a new life in Maine. But his first case there is a puzzling oddball—the corpse of a fisherman washes up on federal land, while the man’s boat drifts into waters that are part of an Indian reservation. Ryan quickly learns the nuances of Maine life as he delves into two illicit coastal trades: hard drugs and rare fish. Many of the locals are happy to see that particular fisherman dead. What’s more, they are not shy about noting that Ryan must have screwed up pretty badly to be posted to such a remote location as Bangor, Maine.

Undaunted, Ryan works to understand the unforgiving way of life on Liberty Island, where people live by an older, harsher code. Adrift on a sailboat one day, he encounters a man from the Malpense tribe, living as a hermit on a remote island, who witnessed something that fateful day.

In his riveting crime debut, New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Ricks turns his literary talents to land he knows deeply, from working in the Maine woods and trapping lobsters year-round. Everyone Knows But You is a rich and dynamic crime novel that brings a unique part of America to vivid, thrilling life.

Thomas E. Ricks is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including the # 1bestseller Fiasco, a history of the beginning of the Iraq War. As a reporter at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, he was a member of two teams that won the Pulitzer Prize.  He worked in the Maine woods in his youth and trapped lobsters when living on an island in Penobscot Bay. He now divides his time between Texas and Maine.

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Endorsements & Reviews

“Celebrated journalist and military historian Ricks tries his hand at a new genre in this crime novel. It’s set in Maine, where a grieving FBI agent named Ryan Tepia is restarting his life. When a fisherman’s corpse shows up on federal land, Tepia is pulled into a case involving drugs, rare fish and the tensions between Maine’s White and Native American communities.” The Washington Post

"The author is a first-rate military historian, and his first crime novel reflects the skills of a terrific storyteller with a keen eye for both character and plot. Just after losing his family in a horrific car crash, F.B.I. agent Ryan Tapia is assigned to Bangor, Maine, where the discovery of a dead fisherman leads to an inquiry into the illegal trades of drugs and, yes, rare fish. Thomas E. Ricks lives part-time in Maine, and his knowledge of the terrain and people of that hauntingly beautiful state helps make for a heartfelt thriller." Air Mail

"A Maine lobsterman’s murder launches this wily, unexpectedly affecting thriller. Ricks, who possesses a matching set of Pulitzer Prizes for reporting he did on two separate teams, for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, has come through with a thriller that’s beautifully observed throughout, with a morally nuanced denouement." The Portland Press-Herald

"A crackling procedural about a grieving FBI agent who sets out to solve a murder in Maine. The sturdy whodunit plot is enriched by the author’s firm grasp of his setting and a colorful cast of New Englanders who never veer into caricature. A sequel would be welcome." Publishers Weekly

"I really enjoyed Tom Ricks's Maine-set mystery Everyone Knows But You about Ryan Tapia, a solitude-seeking FBI man on an isolated part of the Maine coast. After the death of an ornery lobsterman, Agent Tapia uncovers enough secrets, lies and shenanigans to give Jessica Fletcher a run for her money. A sophisticated thriller debut from one of America's finest writers." Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain and The Island

“I’ve enjoyed many of Thomas Rick’s’ bestselling histories, and so I was not surprised but very glad to find his first mystery, set on the coast of Maine, just as riveting and beautifully written. FBI agent Ryan Tapia, alone in the Bangor office—grief struck, watchful and meticulous—heads up a marvelous cast." Anne Lamott, author of Dusk Night Dawn and Bird by Bird

"A deliciously old-fashioned novel that embraces sensually drawn settings in the great state of Maine and colorful characters layered with nuance and complexity. Author Thomas Ricks tells the tale of FBI agent Ryan Tepia, who must track down a murderer while confronting the implacable demands of duty and grief. Read it now." Bryan Gruley, author of the Starvation Lake trilogy

“Thomas E. Ricks’s beautifully written mystery merges people and place with page-turning suspense into a seamless whole. The finest kind of mystery novel." Katherine Hall Page, Agatha awarding-winning author

Praise for Thomas E. Ricks

"Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country." James Mattis, General, U.S. Mariens (ret.) and 26th United States secretary of defense

"First Principles is a fascinating and erudite look at how Greek and Roman writers influenced members of the Founding Generation. From the Harvard-educated John Adams to the largely self-taught George Washington, the most well-known of American Revolutionaries, turned statesmen, looked to the classical world to answer critical questions about the nature of power and the nature of government." Annette Gordon-Reed, the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello