A completely revised edition of the first Henry Rios mystery, The Little Death, Lay Your Sleeping Head introduces Michael Nava's singular protagonist, gay, Latino criminal defense lawyer, Henry Rios. Rios, beset my personal and professional problems, begins a passionate affair with the black sheep heir to a great California fortune who tells Rios an improbable tale of murder and sexual predation in his wealthy family. When the young man is found dead of an apparent drug overdose, Rios begins an investigation that ultimately reveals much more than that his lover's death was murder. One reviewer said Lay Your Sleeping Head "retains all the complexity and elegance of the original novel but deepens the themes of personal alienation and erotic obsession that both honored the traditions of the American crime novel and turned them on their head."

Michael Nava lives outside San Francisco with his husband. His Henry Rios mystery series has been awarded six Lambda Literary Awards and he is the recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in LGBT literature. He is also the author of an acclaimed historical novel, The City of Palaces, set in Mexico City at the beginning of the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Additionally, he wrote and produced the Henry Rios Mysteries podcast which adapted Lay Your Sleeping Head into an 18-episode audio-drama and is available on various podcast platforms including Apple I-tunes and Spotify. His small press, Persigo Press, which currently publishes his work will expand to publish other LGBTQ and writers of color who work in genres.