Fifteen-year-old Pinky Green has always felt destined for ridicule, until Lucy Miles shows up and flips his world upside down. Lucy is extraordinary, artistic, and hiding dangerous secrets about herself and her father. When her estranged mother washes up on Calamity Beach and her father turns up dead the next day, Lucy disappears, and everyone points the finger at her.
Determined to help, Pinky teams up with an unlikely crew: Gilda Montgomery, the sharp-tongued owner of Cockaroost Concessions, and Walter Walsh, Lucy’s burly, melancholic godfather and recently suspended Boston cop. As they follow a trail of mysteries both magical and mortal, they confront the complexities of loyalty, the power of friendship, and the strange, luminous truths hidden in the most unexpected places.

Praise for Lucy Miles' Photogenic Mind

“Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind is an amazing blend of seemingly disparate elements, and it’s a testament to Aaron Tillman’s imagination that it comes together so beautifully. There is a tenderness and humor for the characters that recalls John Irving, a mystery that binds unlikely characters together, and a touch of magic that reminds me of Hannah Tinti. With compassion and grace, Tillman weaves together all these stories until they share the same singular heart. A wonderful achievement.”

—Kevin Wilson, author of Run For The Hills, Nothing To See Here, and The Family Fang

“A perfect blend of tragedy and heart, Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind is a beautiful exploration of friendship and connection in the face of chaos. Tillman’s writing is layered with insight and levity that make it an excellent read for anyone who loves their mysteries with a dash of magic (think Stephen King’s The Institute). With satisfying twists and a cast of characters that will make you laugh, scream, and everything in between, Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind is guaranteed to keep you turning pages well into the night.”

—Mandy McHugh, author of It Takes Monsters and Chloe Cates Is Missing

“Entering the world of Lucy Miles was like no other. Aaron Tillman has created a fascinating character with gifts that surprised and delighted me, along with a community that supported her despite all odds. Be prepared to look up several devices that seem real and might become real in the very near future that are key to unraveling the mystery at the heart of this wonderfully complex novel about friendship, family, and a past that is not what you think it is.”

—Jimin Han, author of Dreamt I Found You and The Apology

“In Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind, Aaron Tillman spins a mysterious, tremendously imaginative, and genuinely original tale. Artfully and skillfully blending and bending genres, Tillman explores profound questions about loyalty, friendship, memory, secrecy, and betrayal. Lyrical, pitch-perfect prose makes this novel a vivid, poignant, and often humorous read. Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind disproves the old adage that 'there’s nothing new under the sun.'”

—Janice Eidus, author of The Last Jewish Virgin and The War Of The Rosens

“What do the shortest kid in school, a girl with an uncanny eye for photography, a burly cop on informal leave from the force, and the wise-cracking owner of a store called Cockaroost Concessions have in common? They’re all in Aaron Tillman’s novel, Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind, a skillful blend of light fantasy and suspect reality that turns into a thriller as the connections start to amass like sea wrack on the Cape Cod shore—all observed through eyes that see everything, down to the smallest detail. Need I mention that the novel’s also darned funny? Lucy Miles is an all-around great read.”

—David Galef, author of Where I Went Wrong and Brevity: A Flash Fiction Handbook

“There are people, real people, who inhabit Aaron Tillman’s brilliant novel, Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind. By ‘real’ I mean there are voices in this book that surprise in real ways and add to the mystery and the magic. Death and murder and intrigue and disappearance are the pistons of this book but the engine, the whole block of it, is Aaron Tillman’s mastery of the language. He is a propulsive storyteller, and there is a density and levity to the writing that allows it to be rooted in the sands of Cape Cod and in the air above Boston. This is a remarkable novel that will have you from the instant the book begins, ‘I would say I was destined for ridicule, but it’s more like I was set up.’”

—Matthew Lippman, author of We Are All Sleeping With Our Sneakers On and Mesmerizingly Sadly Beautifu

“Part Dexter Palmer’s Version Control, part Jedediah Berry’s The Manual of Detection, and part Karen Russell’s Swamplandia!, Aaron Tillman’s Lucy Miles’ Photogenic Mind brings together the strange, the scientific, the silly, and the sleuthing to create a literary joyride of a mystery-meets-coming-of-age story. With a cast of unforgettable characters including a quirky beach concessions connoisseur, a woebegone police detective, and an adolescent boy trying to find his place in the world, Tillman’s novel will both delight, intrigue, and torment you with its wry humor, its turns and tension, and its deeply flawed and human inhabitants. Lucy Miles is a joyful read that will buzz in your brain long after it’s over.”

—Joe Baumann, author of Tell Me and Where Can I Take You When There’s Nowhere To Go?