Maceo Redfield, currently on hiatus from college, is walking a fine line between respectability and involvement in Oakland's drug underworld. As he waits in the neighborhood barbershop, one of his closest childhood friends, Holly Ford, brings him the news of the murder of Billy Crane, the third member of their childhood trio and a successful drug dealer. Felicia, Billy's girlfriend and Maceo's true love, is on the run and suspected of setting up the hit.

As he searches for Felicia and the answer to the mystery of Billy's murder, Maceo is drawn deeper into a world in which dealers, players, and interlopers, obeying a code of honor all their own, engage in a deadly game to capture the heart of Oakland.

When Maceo uncovers the truth about Billy, the story builds to a terrifying and painful climax.

"Friend or foe, everybody's family in this heartfelt hometown mystery, even the guy at the other end of the gun."
    THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Tramble's writing is multidimensional, muscular and poetic, capturing the voices of African-Americans of many ages and backgrounds without slipping into pretense or parody."
    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"The Dying Ground teems with the tinny bravado of young men too eager to prove themselves. [An] "impressive debut...[with] a pungent, streetwise sensibility that gives her novel its racing pulse."
    THE BOSTON GLOBE...