'Shoot the Moon' by Ava Barry delivers a haunting mystery

Ava Barry’s Shoot the Moon explores loss, privilege, and deception in Los Angeles.

Illustration by Volodymyr Kozin

By Hayu Andini and Adila Ghina

Shoot the Moon: A Rainey Hall Mystery, by Ava Barry

Los Angeles has long been shaped by its cyclical wildfires, with seasonal winds fueling blazes that displace residents and reshape the city’s landscape. In Shoot the Moon, Ava Barry’s atmospheric crime novel, narrator Rainey Hall traces her deepest fears back to one such fiery summer nine years ago.

As a restless teenager, Rainey spent her nights sneaking into homes abandoned by residents fleeing the smoke and flames, stealing art alongside her best friend, Alice. Born into privilege yet uncomfortable with it, she found solace in Alice’s companionship. But after one fateful night at a party, Alice vanished without a trace. The mystery of her disappearance has haunted Rainey ever since.

Now, as an adult, Rainey runs Left City Investigations, a three-woman private detective agency. When a wealthy couple from the outskirts of Los Angeles hires her to find their missing 19-year-old daughter, Chloe Delmonico, the case stirs painful memories. Chloe, a promising young artist, had been drawn into a reckless crowd, experimenting with drugs before crashing her parents’ car and walking away from home. As Rainey delves deeper into the investigation, she becomes obsessed, determined to find Chloe—and, perhaps, to make peace with Alice’s unsolved disappearance.

A noir-inspired mystery in the heart of Los Angeles

Ava Barry crafts a noir-style narrative rich with evocative descriptions of Los Angeles, a city where beauty and danger intertwine. “There was a haunting beauty to the endless sunsets, the sky saturated with a smoky blur from the fires that lit up in shades of vivid orange, offsetting the city’s terror with a kind of dumb beauty,” Barry writes, capturing the duality of Rainey’s world—a place where loss and privilege coexist.

Rainey’s investigation soon uncovers a troubling pattern: Chloe isn’t the only young artist to have vanished in recent months. The trail leads her to a secretive network of art dealers, figures who manipulate and exploit rising talent for their own gain. As Rainey pieces together the truth, she realizes the case is more sinister than she ever imagined, forcing her to confront the ghosts of her past.

A compelling blend of nostalgia and suspense

While Shoot the Moon carries echoes of classic Los Angeles noir stories like Chinatown and The Black Dahlia, Barry’s voice is distinctly her own. Her writing combines an eerie, dreamlike quality with razor-sharp suspense, immersing readers in a city where the past lingers in every shadow.

Rainey Hall is a compelling protagonist—flawed yet determined, shaped by both privilege and tragedy. Her relentless pursuit of the truth, driven as much by personal guilt as professional duty, adds depth to the novel’s mystery.

A must-read for noir and literary crime fans

With its poetic prose, intricate plotting, and haunting atmosphere, Shoot the Moon is more than just a crime novel—it’s a meditation on memory, loss, and the fine line between beauty and exploitation. Ava Barry’s latest work is a gripping read, offering both suspense and a deeply emotional journey through the heart of Los Angeles.

For fans of noir-inspired mysteries and literary crime fiction, Shoot the Moon is a must-read.

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