Detective Muldoon is on the case. Someone is targeting Portland's apple merchants, and it’s his job to find out why. Only Muldoon isn’t your ordinary gumshoe — he comes from a long line of literary investigators, the kind who solve murders by deducing the true criminal without ever having to leave the comfort of their armchairs. His preferred M.O.? Just wait around and the crime will resolve itself. There’s a problem, though. Muldoon isn’t that smart and his only luck is the no-good kind. He’s hardboiled like a stale egg salad sandwich. Soon enough another victim turns up dead under circumstances even more grotesque than the first. Can Muldoon figure it out and stop the killer?

Provoked by a mysterious ache in the bottom of her foot, Kaleena Madruga begins to investigate the sources of pain in her life. In a series of lyrical essays, she picks her way through dead-end waitressing jobs, a cheating husband, the potential of motherhood, encounters with lobsters, and a trip to the hospital with someone else’s grandmother — all in her quest to face the truth of the question: Does It Hurt?

‘This book is a mantra written by an old soul with a dazzling new voice. Read it to yourself in a loud whisper...’ - Jessica Anne, Mike Mother & A Manual for Nothing.

‘Madruga captures all the absurdity and exaltation that come with living in a body prone to accidents, aging, injuries, and love.’ - Kathleen Rooney, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.

‘Madruga's essays take the reader on a journey through the body, from the hands to the heart and beyond…’ - Suzanne Scanlon, Promising Young Women & Her 37th Year, an Index.

‘Some of the rawest and most unflinching stuff I’ve read in years.’ - Christian TeBordo, The Apology & Ghost Engine: Stories.

'Typical Malignancies explores the minor humiliations, acts of revenge, and symbolic annihilations of our modern world with comedy and pathos.’ - Jessica Sequeira, A Luminous History of the Palm.

‘Blissfully mundane, playfully absurd, and tragically relatable.’ - Geraldine Snell, overlove.

‘In these stories, obsessions turn into survival strategies, and what we despise becomes essential. I couldn’t help but want to put on that chicken suit.’ - Rachel Sturges, Essayist & Science Writer.

Looking for even more good stuff to read? We have a directory of recommendations dedicated to getting the word out about books we think are awesome. Underground, edgy, smart. We have no doubt they are worthy of being cult classics.