Page-Turners You'll Devour in One Sitting

In the small, rural town of Willnot, Lamar Hale is the local doctor, philosopher, therapist and newest sleuth. When a mass grave is discovered by a hunter 2 miles outside town, it's Hale who is called in alongside the Sheriff, state police and FBI. In this tiny, oddball American hamlet, located in an unspecified state, all the world's outsiders seem to have found a home together, or as Hale himself observes of his fellow residents, "People in Willnot tend to dwell at the thin edges of maps." Hale isn't the only character inclined to wax poetic; every character in the novel speaks with the same voice, a detail that creates a winsome if less-than-realistic dialect. A compelling subplot involves Willnot's lost son, Bobby Lowndes, a U.S. Marine who returns to town for reasons he is loath to reveal. Even as the mystery of the dead bodies propels the book forward, it is the depiction of this town of misfits that keeps the reader engrossed. Each character is so richly drawn, full of both darkness and light, creating a glimpse what of small-town America could be—built on a bedrock of compassion.