NEW YORK TIMES CRITICS' PICK OF 2023 The drama of In Cold Blood meets the stylings of a Coen brothers film in this long-lost manuscript from musicologist Robert 'Mack' McCormick, whose research on blues icon Robert Johnson's mysterious life and death became as much of a myth as the musician himself 'This is a human and humane book, an insightful exploration of the biographer's craft. ...] McCormick's book makes you feel what we lost when Johnson died young.' --New York Times 'Reads like noir fiction. It's a detective story riddled with fatalism and ambiguity carried out by someone who, like the archetypal noir hero, isn't a detective but an ordinary guy in a dismal, often violent setting searching for what can't be found.' --Wall Street Journal When blues master Robert Johnson's little-known recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom: A