NO VACANCY: a novel

Four hours across Nevada for two signatures. He never got the first one.Dell Pruitt tunes pianos. Twenty years of walking into strange rooms and hearing what is wrong with them before anybody says good morning.His wife has been three weeks at the Ferrin auto court - twenty-two miles from the nearest town, one low row of units off a gravel road, and a key board behind the desk with ten brass hooks on it and almost every key still hanging. Dell has a lease in his door pocket, folded in three, with a pen clipped through the fold. Two signatures and he drives home.The man who runs the place is kind about it. He carries the bag. He says let's get you situated.That is hour zero.Nobody at the Ferrin lies to Dell Pruitt. Every question he asks is answered, patiently, completely. And every answer takes one more thing off the table.No Vacancy is a novel about hospitality, and about exactly how long a man can go on being a guest.Use Look Inside to read the first chapter free - then see how far you get before you check the locks.