DEEP RIVER BLUES

by Tony Ray Morris

Overview

"With the perception of a poet and the knack of a novelist, Tony Ray Morris joins the ranks of some of the finest crime fiction writers. In turn, part James Lee Burke, Tennessee Williams, and William Faulkner, Deep River Blues will pull you under and have you gasping for breath." – Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries, basis for the Netflix drama Longmire

"Tony Ray Morris joins Appalachian storytellers Ron Rash, Anne Pancake, Matt Null and Chris Offutt with deft prose and sure-handed plot orchestration. Deep River Blues offers both a lament and a renewal not to be missed." – R. T. Smith, author of Doves in Flight

"Morris's sense of place is impeccable; his characters complex, wounded, and in need of redemption. Neither angels nor demons, but flawed and believable human beings who will move and enthrall readers." – Lenore Hart, author of Waterwoman and The Raven's Bride

DEEP RIVER BLUES
When the body of a young girl washes up on the shores of the French Broad River, Cord McRae, newly elected sheriff of Acre County, Tennessee, suspects her death might be connected to a commune just outside the small town of Falston. Guru/leader Levon Gladson and a group of a hundred and twenty-five followers have moved into an old farm that butts up to the Smokies, and Cord suspects they may be growing something more profitable than sorghum cane up in the hills. The mystery's complicated by a second murder, of an Afghan vet; the growing power of a local "hillbilly" mafia led by the wily Thorn Reevers; and Cord's own marriage, which is teetering on the edge of divorce over past violence and his on-again, off-again love affair with liquor.

With echoes of WINTER'S BONE and the novels of James Lee Burke, DEEP RIVER BLUES will be a worthwhile addition to the regional crime thriller genre.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162752066
Publisher:	Northampton House Press
Publication date:	06/22/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	790 KB

About the Author

Tony Ray Morris was born in North Carolina and spent his childhood in Georgia and Kentucky. In 1992 Morris quit his paper factory job for journalism. He began writing fiction and poetry, and later earned a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University. He currently lives in Savannah and teaches at Georgia Southern University. He’s the associate editor of Southern Poetry Review, and director of the Ossabaw Island Writers’ Retreat. His poems have been awarded the Mary Belle Campbell Book Award, the Louisiana Literature Poetry Prize, the Tennessee Writers Alliance Poetry Award, and have been three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He’s published four books of poetry, most recently Pulling at a Thread (Main Street Rag, 2015).