Southern Crime Fiction

Once the flashy, successful lawyer known for his in-your-face billboards—IN AN ACCIDENT? GET RICH—Jason Rich has fallen from grace, his reputation scrubbed of its glitz and his life stripped of the people he cares about. All thanks to meth kingpin Tyson Cade. But when Cade is shot and killed in the heart of his territory, things go from bad to worse for Jason as he is charged with his murder.

Buried secrets, dirty lies, and unbridled greed and ambition raise the stakes down South in the lauded crime series from New York Times bestselling author Ace Atkins. Twenty years ago, Brandon Taylor was thought to be just another teen boy who ended his life too soon. That's what almost...

"The tension in Hart’s story never lets up, and you’ll find yourself unable to break away — disc after disc (or page after page) — long past your bedtime." -- NJ.com This program includes a letter read by the author “We the unwilling, led by the unqualified to kill the unfortunate, die...

Now a major motion picture starring Mel Gibson: a Mississippi-set southern noir where drugs, whiskey, guns, and the desire for revenge violently intersect. For eleven years the clock has been ticking for Russell Gaines as he sits in Parchman Penitentiary in the Mississippi Delta. His sentence...

New York Times bestselling author and “the reigning champ of nostalgia noir” (The New York Times Book Review) James Lee Burke returns with a powerful novel in the Holland Family series set in 1950s Texas, as the specter of the Korean War looms. On its surface, life in 1950s Houston is as...

A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tension, this is not just a murder case: it's a powder keg. Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later, the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander's case?

A "prophetic, propulsive" tale of one mysterious, messianic child with untold powers who draws three desperate souls into acts of mercy and mayhem. (Scott Blackburn) An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a...

A cabin in the woods. Three dead, one in critical condition. Property owned by not just any Tennessee local, but one of the richest men in the country. Vera Boyett isn’t quite sure what it means. But that’s why Sheriff Gray “Bent” Benton called her: to figure it out. Criminal analysis is what she does best. Even when the town is in panicked shambles, even when the case is more delicate than most…and even when it’s not the only case on her plate.

In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his unstable mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension. Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoffs bid good-bye.

Rolson McKane thought his crime-solving days ended the night he lost his badge in a drunken accident. But when he discovers the body of a young Black man near his property—and the dead man visits Rolson in his dreams—he realizes this case is personal. As Rolson digs deeper, he collides with a corrupt police force, a ruthless local politician, and a town determined to bury the truth, not just with this case, but with something that happened decades ago. Every step pulls him into a darkness he may not be able to escape.

“A riotous journey into the heart of insanity also known as the State of Florida. Bravo!”—Gary Shteyngart, author of Lake Success Florida, circa 1980. Reed Crowe, the eponymous Florida Man, is a middle-aged beach bum, beleaguered and disenfranchised, living on ill-gotten gains deep in the...

Two men missing. A blood-stained chainsaw. Bodies buried shallow in Louisiana soil. When a husband and stepson vanish from Hickory Ridge Road, Sheriff Tom Garrison uncovers more than a crime, he finds a small parish divided by silence, loyalty, and fear. At the center: Franklin “Frank” Dorsey, a haunted Vietnam veteran, and Calvin Reed, the fragile young man who follows him.

Master storyteller Chris Offutt’s acclaimed crime series has been praised by Ian Rankin as “righteous Kentucky noir with top notes of Daniel Woodrell and S. A. Cosby,” and in this breakneck new novel, sheriff Mick Hardin navigates the treacherous terrain of a town’s festering secrets and...

The polite Piedmont town of Hillston, North Carolina, wants to go on believing it is still too temperate to require homicide experts. But when the wife of a state senator is found beaten to death, the inner circle of Hillston’s ruling families arranges to have the case assigned to Detective Justin Savile, the charming black sheep of the dynasty that founded the town. Aided by his wise-cracking partner and a young woman from the Carolina mountains whose strength and love rescues him from his own destructive impulses, Savile sets out to unravel the deceit hidden in Hillston’s past.

From two-time Edgar Award–winner and New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a thrilling novel—now available in ebook—that pits Dave Robicheaux against the worst opponent he’s encountered yet. It’s out there, under the salt of the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana...

Terminal Exposure is the story of Chance Barkley and Jack McCoy, two trouble shooters hired by the Texas Syndicate to take down a dirty federal agent, who is involved in a ten-million-dollar cocaine buy that is traded for ten million dollars' worth of heroin. The multi-faceted story follows the load as it heads north into the USA near Douglas, Arizona. Deep-cover CIA agent Pablo Morales is brought in to help Barkley and McCoy. If successful, the newly formed strike team will have their first advantage over the Mexican cartels in their fight for control of the Southern border.

When a local bluegrass musician disappears and a jug of her shop’s corn liquor is implicated, moonshiner Hattie Hayes must stop further trouble from brewing in this delightful cozy mystery series. It’s August in Chattanooga, Tennessee and moonshiner Hattie Hayes has collaborated with a...

A secret dark past and a string of messy affairs haven't stopped self-made millionaire Jamison Jackson from becoming mayor of Atlanta. But while he may have a gorgeous new wife and new alliances, he can't quite escape his past and those who want to see him fail. There's his jilted first wife, a lover he'd rather forget, and a ruthless faction of old guard politicians and power lords who have no problem getting blood on their hands. And the fact that Jamison's ambitious current wife, Val, schemed and blackmailed her way into his arms - despite his mother's not-so-subtle warnings - is far from the least of his problems.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A tantalizing mystery and a tender coming-of-age story...Unputdownable."—Oprah.com In the summer of 1989, a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom is...

Thirteen years ago, Jori Trahan’s boyfriend vanished without a trace. Now, after moving back home to Alabama to care for her ailing grandmother and autistic brother, she comes face-to-face with the deadly mystery behind his disappearance. Jori has a rare form of synesthesia, meaning she can “hear” colors; to her, tones of voice are as unique as fingerprints. With the help of this ability and a sympathetic cop, Jori comes dangerously close to uncovering the truth. But those responsible will go to any length - including murder - to keep their dark secrets buried.