Leather Maiden

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2008 by Joe R. Lansdale

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lansdale, Joe R., [date]

Leather maiden / by Joe R. Lansdale.—1st American ed.

p. cm.

1. Journalists—Fiction. 2. Cold cases (Criminal investigation)—Fiction. 3. Texas, East—Fiction. 4. Domestic fiction. I. Title.

PS3562.A557L43 2008

813'.54—dc22 2007051854

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

eISBN: 978-0-307-27041-2

v3.0