One Good Deed
Published in 2019, One Good Deed launches David Baldacci's Aloysius Archer series. Set in 1949, the novel follows Archer, a World War II veteran recently released from prison after serving time for a crime he insists he did not commit. Sent to the small town of Poca City in the South to serve out his parole, Archer takes a job collecting a debt for a local businessman and is quickly pulled into a murder case. He partners with a local detective and tries to clear his own name while moving through a town full of secrets, ambitious women, and powerful men with reasons to lie. Baldacci writes in a deliberately noir register that recalls postwar crime fiction, with shorter chapters and a leaner style than his contemporary thrillers. The book began a series that has continued through several sequels following Archer's career.
What you might want to know about One Good Deed
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1949 an ex-convict arrives in a small Virginia town and is drawn into a murder investigation.
Yes, it is the first Aloysius Archer novel and is followed by A Gambling Man and others.
It shares his pacing but uses a 1940s setting and noir tone instead of modern day Washington.
One Good Deed was written by David Baldacci, published in 2019 by Grand Central Publishing.
One Good Deed is 464 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, One Good Deed takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
One Good Deed is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
