GoodBYE To ME
COMING IN JULY
It’s May of ’68- and twenty-two-year-old Freddie Riley is cycling home from her job as a bike messenger, unaware that her life as she knows it, is about to be upended. She walks into the apartment to find a stranger, lying dead, and her foster mother, Yvette, bleeding out on the floor. When Yvette whispers a cryptic message to her, it sets her, and her best friend/ crush Celia on a course that will lead them from the gritty old Times Square to the glamorous Cary Grant suite at the Warwick. It will take all of Freddie's considerable street-smarts and ingenuity to keep them one step ahead of their relentless pursuers so that they can solve the mystery before they both end up dead.
Goodbye To Me is a queer centered, propulsively paced, twisty tale of a city long-gone. It portrays New York City at its roughest, back before it turned into the safe, glittering metropolis it is today. And Freddie Riley is one of those increasingly rare things, a native New Yorker, who, like the city that never sleeps, she's got surprises up her sleeve. This feisty heroine has a unique voice and a kickass attitude. In a world where men take, and women, give, Freddie Riley firmly draws the line. By doing that, and standing up for herself, she upends the status quo. And, as a dividend, she finds out who she is, not just by birth, but at her core.
Praise for Goodbye To Me
"At turns witty, suspenseful and devastatingly real, GOODBYE TO ME moves as quickly as Freddie Riley's messenger bike through the gritty streets of 1960s New York. I adored spending time with this fierce, funny and flawed heroine as she emerges from a shocking loss and brings new meaning to the word, 'survivor.' A first-rate read."
-- USA Today and International bestselling Edgar Award-winning author, Alison Gaylin
"Sardonic, whip-smart, and unforgettable, Freddie Riley is one of those characters who is fully alive on the page. I loved being in the world of Naomi Rand's Goodbye to Me. The propulsive energy, humor, and heart made it impossible to put down.”
— Erin Khar, author of STRUNG OUT