Townies
And Other Stories of Southern Mischief
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A collection of riveting, funny, and captivating southern fried crime stories from Eryk Pruitt, one of the best new crime fiction writers working today. Townies, and Other Tales of Southern Mischief collects, for the first time, Pruitt's short fiction in a single volume.
The title story, "Townies," details what really happened one night, after hours, in a once popular East Texas sports bar, and the sinister revenge that would soon follow.
"Knacker," the story of a Texan who finds himself homeless in Dublin, Ireland, and willing to sacrifice damn near anything to scratch together what remaining pride he may have lost.
"Let's Be Awful" tells the story of a cocktail waitress who decides that, after a horrid round of revenge porn, her days of playing the victim have past.
In "A Lot Prettier (When You Smile)," we are introduced to a woman who can wrap any man around her finger and decides to put that powerful skill to use one last time.
When a black sheep son comes home to his sick momma's deathbed in "The Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised," he discovers long lost family secrets, as well as how he can use his own set of skills to give her a proper send off.
When Old Man McCarthy turns up dead in the bottoms of "Blood Holler," a cursory investigation turns up an unlikely suspect, which barely scratches the surface of the true implications of the brutal crime.
These and other stories will have you turning the pages to read more of one of the most unique voices in southern fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Half of the 20 stories in this sterling collection from Pruitt (What We Reckon) are set in East Texas, "where the pine trees grow taller than some skyscrapers, and brief moments of civilization are punctuated by long chapters of dense thicket," and the rest in small North Carolina towns. Some don't fit the crime label, but all are character-driven portraits of a particular turning point for each of their not-always-likable protagonists. Highlights include the title tale, in which Darcy, a woman on the run, finds some surprising traveling companions, who offer her a proactive way to deal with her problems. In "The Hoo-Doo of Sweet Mama Rosa," Old Poke Billet is the victim of something more sinister than an evil spell. In "The Deplorables," a pen stolen from the William Faulkner museum points the way to what might bring a kind of security to a harried woman and her family. A masterly storyteller, Pruitt pulls the reader into a world that zings with authenticity and life.
