The Trackers

In 1937, young painter Val Welch travels to the fictional town of Dawes, Wyoming, after receiving a New Deal commission to create a mural for its new post office. He stays at the ranch of wealthy art patron John Long and Long’s wife Eve, whose past as a rail-riding singer contrasts with the controlled life she now leads. Political ambition, old violence and uncertain identities surround the household.

When Eve disappears with a valuable painting, Long sends Val to find her. The search takes him through Hoovervilles, San Francisco nightclubs and the swamps of Florida, where each new account of Eve calls the previous one into question. The novel uses a missing-person mystery to explore New Deal art, class, surveillance and the fragile lives of people moving across Depression-era America.