In this mesmerizing debut novel by two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Liz Balmaseda, one woman’s hunger for justice becomes a journey into darkness—and a punishing, soul-searching test of priorities.

Liz Balmaseda is a twotime winner of the Pulitzer Prize, an author, screenwriter, and a writer for The Palm Beach Post. With Sweet Mary, a taut, emotional story about the cost of love and revenge, she adds “gifted novelist” to her list of accomplishments.

Dulce Maria “Mary” Guevara is a woman with nothing left to lose. Wrongly accused of being a cocaine queen, she has lost her job, her reputation, and—worst of all—custody of her son. Even after the charges are dropped, suspicion lingers. Desperate to get it all back, she takes what she considers the only path open to her: she goes on the hunt for the real drug queen. Unfortunately, the one person she is sure will be able to help her is the one person she wants least to see again: Joe Pratts, her exfiancé, a man whose connections to the drug world once ended their relationship.

Trying not to fall again for Joe is just the beginning of Mary’s challenges, however. The drug queen she is targeting is safely ensconced in the suburbs, hiding behind the façade of domestic tranquility. And taking her down means doing something that strikes Mary a little too close to home: she would have to leave the drug queen’s young daughter without a mother.

Sweet Mary is a gripping, heart-rending story with a noir soul and plenty of surprising twists— an assured debut from a writer with tremendous experience and talent.