Kelly J. Ford

Real Bad Things

Included as one of the Best Books of 2017 by the Los Angeles Review From a compelling new voice in LGBTQ and Southern fiction, a gripping tale of crime and desire amid small-town America’s meth epidemic. This was Drear’s Bluff. Nothing bad happened here. People didn’t disappear. College was supposed to be an escape for Emily Skinner. But after failing out of school, she's left with no choice but to return to her small Arkansas hometown, a place run on gossip and good Christian values. She's not alone. Emily's former best friend—and childhood crush—Jody Monroe is back with a baby. Emily can't resist the opportunity to reconnect, despite the uncomfortable way things ended between them and her mom's disapproval of their friendship. When Emily stumbles upon a meth lab on Jody's property, she realizes just how far they’ve both fallen. Emily intends to keep her distance from Jody, but when she's kicked out of her house with no money and nowhere to go, a paying job as Jody's live-in babysitter is hard to pass up. As they grow closer, Emily glimpses a future for the first time since coming home. She dismisses her worries; after all, Jody is a single mom. The meth lab is a means to an end. And besides, for Emily, Jody is the real drug. But when Jody's business partner goes missing, and the lies begin to pile up, Emily will learn just how far Jody is willing to go to save her own skin—and how much Emily herself has risked for the love of someone who may never truly love her back. Echoing the work of authors like Daniel Woodrell and Sarah Waters, Cottonmouths is an unflinching story about the ways in which the past pulls us back . . . despite our best efforts to leave it behind.

A Novel

Cottonmouths

From the author of Real Bad Things and Cottonmouths, a Los Angeles Review Best Book of 2017, comes the darkly suspenseful tale of a small-town Easter tradition and its murderous secrets. For seventeen years, a serial murderer has used the Presley, Arkansas, Annual Hunt for the Golden Egg to find prey. Or at least that's what some people believe. Others, like the town's devoted "Eggheads," relish the tradition and think the deaths are just unfortunate accidents. But for Nell Holcomb, the town's annual Hunt dredges up a particularly painful memory: her brother's death, long believed to be "the Hunter's" first kill. Nell has been caring for her nephew since then, trying to keep him safe and trying to conceal the role she played in his father's death. Most importantly, she's been trying to avoid the Hunt--despite the clashes that erupt in town over the event and her best friend's obsession with winning the big prize. As Easter draws near and the town's frenzy escalates, Nell must face her past and the Hunt as the danger once again veers close to home.

The Hunt

From the author of Cottonmouths, a Los Angeles Review Best Book of 2017, comes an evocative suspense about the cost of keeping secrets and the dangers of coming home. Beneath the roiling waters of the Arkansas River lie dead men and buried secrets. When Jane Mooney's violent stepfather, Warren, disappeared, most folks in Maud Bottoms, Arkansas, assumed he got drunk and drowned. After all, the river had claimed its share over the years. When Jane confessed to his murder, she should have gone to jail. That's what she wanted. But without a body, the police didn't charge her with the crime. So Jane left for Boston--and took her secrets with her. Twenty-five years later, the river floods and a body surfaces. Talk of Warren's murder grips the town. Now in her forties, Jane returns to Maud Bottoms to reckon with her past: to do jail time, to face her revenge-bent mother, to make things right. But though Jane's homecoming may enlighten some, it could threaten others. Because in this desolate river valley, some secrets are better left undisturbed.

Kelly J. Ford

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