I Call Your Name

Cherry Castro was murdered. And Quilty is the only one who believes the truth didn't die with her.

Growing up in Southview Apartments, thirteen-year-old Quilty King knows the rules: stay close to your friends, mind your business, and don't ask too many questions. Life is filled with school, music, sketchbooks, movie nights, and the everyday chaos of coming of age in the shadow of Washington, D.C.

Then Cherry walks into his life.

Beautiful, older, and unforgettable, Cherry becomes Quilty's first love, his muse, his escape, his future. And just as suddenly, she's murdered, she's gone. The adults accept what they're told. The police move on. Her name fades into whispers.

But Quilty can't let it go.

Haunted by memory and driven by instinct, he begins pulling at loose threads, small details that don't add up, silences that speak too loudly, secrets buried beneath the rhythms of neighborhood life. What starts as grief turns into a dangerous search for answers, one that forces Quilty to confront violence, betrayal, and truths no child should ever have to face.

Set against a vivid backdrop of late-1970s Black life—rich with music, humor, family, and fear—I Call Your Name is a gripping coming-of-age murder mystery about first love, lost innocence, and the courage it takes to demand the truth when everyone else tells you to forget.

Some names refuse to stay buried. And some boys refuse to stop looking.