Nominated for the Hammett Prize by the International Association of Crime Writers.

One of the 10 Best Mysteries of the Year -Otto Penzler

"Four Kinds of Rain is a great read. Robert Ward has created a darkly comic masterpiece that keeps you thinking long after the last page is turned." -Michael Connelly

"Four Kinds of Rain is feverish and funny, an end-of-the-dream novel that could only have come from the very talented, slightly twisted mind of Robert Ward." -George Pelecanos

"Fiercely funny...as sharp and nasty as a paper cut." -Marilyn Stasio, New York Times

"Noir for the lost. Heartbreaking, hilarious and oh so beautifully written. A renegade prose poem to the loss and regret we carry like the best rock 'n roll music, full of beauty and despair with the gonzo gift of sheer immediacy." -Ken Bruen

"Noir at its best." -T. Jefferson Parker

Starred Review. "Superior noir novel...The twists come fast and furious." -Publishers Weekly

"Highly entertaining new twist to the bumbling-criminal subgenre." -Booklist

Ward's classic novel Red Baker has had a profound influence on some of the industry's most successful writers. Now Ward returns from a hiatus in Hollywood with a noir gem destined to inspire a new generation of writers. Broke, recently divorced, down on his luck psychiatrist Bob Wells is tired of always being the good guy. But true to his code, he reaches out to his patient Emile Bardan when Emile's paranoid delusions spin out of control.

Emile is convinced that someone is trying to steal his most prized possession: a legendary mask that he claims is worth millions. When Bob discovers that this mask is a treasure, something in him snaps. He's tired of helping people for nothing—and he's found a woman he'd do anything to keep. The solution: Bob is going to steal the mask himself. But doing so may mean making the biggest mistake of all as he proceeds down a dark path from which there is no return.