The Night Gardener (2006)

After 20 years, a dormant D.C. serial killer seems to have struck again, reuniting three men who worked the old case.

Bodily Trauma
A simple gunshot to the head.

Shattered Illusions
An interracial couple's teen son struggles after he enrolls in a posh Maryland school.

Lowdown
Like Pelecanos' work on HBO's The Wire, Gardener brims with meticulous, humane, sprawling authenticity — and takes its sweet time getting anywhere.