The novel follows a DNA discovery that reopens a decades-old murder investigation and reveals unexpected connections between one man’s family and the past.
NEW YORK CITY, NY — September 30, 2026 — Author Gilbert Leslie has released Dillard’s Promise, a crime novel that connects a decades-old murder investigation with family history, identity, memory, and the consequences of unresolved violence.
Set across two pivotal weeks separated by 35 years, the story begins in Beverly Hills, California, in April 2010, when a routine traffic stop involving an African American man results in an arrest. A subsequent DNA connection unexpectedly directs investigators toward a series of unresolved killings dating back to 1975.
The discovery brings renewed attention to the deaths of four white people during a single week in July 1975 in Lafayette, Virginia, a fictional township whose history forms an important part of the novel’s setting. As investigators revisit the case, connections between events in the past and present gradually emerge.
At the center of the story is Houston Jenkins, whose understanding of his family history changes as the investigation develops. What begins as a forensic connection to an old case becomes increasingly personal as Houston discovers that his family may be more closely connected to Lafayette and the unresolved crimes than he previously understood.
With his wife, Sabrina, beside him, Houston must confront information that challenges long-held assumptions about his family and the events that shaped earlier generations. A deathbed confession introduces additional information about the past and further complicates his effort to understand what happened decades earlier.
Through its dual-period structure, Dillard’s Promise examines how unresolved events can continue to affect families long after an investigation has gone quiet. The novel incorporates themes of memory, identity, family secrecy, racial history, and the emotional consequences of discovering information that has remained hidden for generations.
The story moves between July 1975 and April 2010 as investigators and family members work to understand how the two periods are connected. For Houston, uncovering what happened becomes not only a search for answers about the past but also an effort to understand what those discoveries mean for his present life.
Combining elements of crime fiction, cold-case mystery, historical mystery, and family drama, Dillard’s Promise uses an investigative framework to explore how newly uncovered information can reshape a person’s understanding of family and personal history.
Dillard’s Promise is available at:
https://a.co/d/07yJBFiL
About Gilbert Leslie
Gilbert Leslie is the author of Dillard’s Promise, a crime novel that combines a decades-old murder investigation with themes of family history, identity, memory, racial history, and unresolved events across generations. Through the novel’s dual-timeline structure, Leslie explores how discoveries from the past can reshape a person’s understanding of family and personal history. Dillard’s Promise reflects his interest in crime, historical mystery, family relationships, and the lasting consequences of secrets that remain hidden over time.
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Gilbert Leslie
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