In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of a housing project in Brooklyn, pulls a .45 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of James McBride's brilliant new novel. From the author of the National Book Award-winning 'The Good Lord Bird'.