Shoot the Moon

A Rainey Hall Mystery

Ava Barry

Private investigator Rainey Hall stumbles into a dark mystery from her past that embroils her with an underground society of artists, a dangerous new drug, and a string of violent deaths.

While in high school, Rainey spent a summer taking advantage of the wildfires near Los Angeles to break into the empty houses of the rich and famous with her best friends, Alice and Spencer, committing small acts of larceny. These acts of rebellion culminated in a big theft from a powerful, well-connected musician with underworld ties. Days later, Alice went missing.

Now—nine years later—Rainey is a private detective chasing a missing person case. Chloe, a young vulnerable artist with a history of substance abuse, disappeared from her parents' house without a trace. As she digs into the case, Rainey not only discovers a string of missing artists, but connections to Alice, a case that had gone cold years ago. Diving back into her own past and Alice’s disappearance, the investigation quickly becomes more twisted and dangerous than Rainey'd ever anticipated. She unearths a mysterious society steeped in drugs, art, and some of the most influential people in Los Angeles.

Powerful forces begin to close in on Rainey as she finds herself in a race against time to save Chloe—and finally reveal the truth of what happened to Alice all those years ago.

Ava Barry was a script reader for Bold Films and Intrigue Entertainment, and an editorial assistant for Zoetrope: All-Story, Francis Ford Coppola’s literary magazine. This is her first novel. She lives in Australia.

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Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for the Rainey Hall Mysteries:

"I was absorbed in the world Ava Barry concocted in Double Exposure to the point where I found myself irritated when I had to do other tasks that took me away from reading. The writing is evocative." Sara Weinman The New York Times Book Review

"Years after the murder of her parents, heiress Melia van Aust hires P.I. Rainey Hall to find the culprit and the root out Melia's stalker. But Rainey has a dark history of her own. Chilling." People Magazine, Best Books Fall 2022

“Double Exposure contains many evocative passages on Hollywood old and new—on the culture and personalities of a region whose mix of fact and contrivance creates a unique atmosphere." Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

“The plot of this exhilarating and intricate novel ebbs and flows between fast-paced action and relaxed moments of narrative exposition.” Booklist

“This provocative, character-driven drama manages to keep its surprising twists in focus while also giving readers a lyrical look at Los Angeles. A stupendous turn adds an intense level of terror to Double Exposure.” Shelf Awareness

“[A] seductive neo-noir…This evocative novel demonstrates that both the city [Los Angeles] and its magic remain very much alive.” Publishers Weekly (starred)

Praise for Ava Barry:

"Barry’s prose is precise, vivid, and seductive....It's a gorgeous, bedeviling, and compulsively readable debut not to be missed fans of historical mysteries and Hollywood lore.” John Copenhaver, award-winning author of The Savage Kind

"Windhall is Barry’s first novel, and it is one heck of a debut. She nails her protagonist’s first-person voice and vividly channels the Hollywood vernacular and vibe both past and present." BookPage (starred)