White River Red

Inspired by a true story, White River Red: A Novel vividly portrays the tumults and triumphs of a rough, generous soul who touched countless lives with her kindness and courage. In 1906, fifteen-year-old Forrestina Bradley runs away from her stifling life of ease and joins the circus as a tightrope walker. After a tragedy forces her to leave the circus, she embarks on a life of nomadic adventure, running a carnival rat-game and becoming involved in an illegal dance hall and moonshine business near the banks of the White River in Arkansas during Prohibition. Along the way, she meets and loves three men—Max, Jack, and George—who each break her heart in vastly different ways. It’s a good thing that Forrestina is tough enough to survive the men in her life. Tough enough to become a legend. In 1972, Betty, a young reporter desperate to break into the boys’ club of journalism, offers to interview the now-elderly Forrestina. What she discovers in Forrestina’s story is a lesson of strength, resilience, friendship, and faith. She learns that though defying normal is often painful, for some brave souls it’s the only way to truly live.

"John Verdon writes grown–up detective novels, by which I mean stories with intelligent plots, well–developed characters and crimes that have social consequences. White River Burning, featuring the author's brainy gumshoe–for–hire, Dave Gurney, checks all these boxes." —The New York Times Book Review Tensions have been running high in White River as it approaches the anniversary of a fatal shooting of a black motorist by a local police officer. The polarized city is on edge, confronted with angry demonstrations, arson, and looting. In the midst of the turmoil, a White River police officer is shot dead by an unknown sniper. As the town spirals out of control, local authorities approach Dave Gurney to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting. White River Burning is the most provocative and timely book yet by the author hailed by The New York Times as "masterly."

The tragic, true story of Helen Spence, the teenager who murdered her father’s killers in the insulated lower White River area of Arkansas in 1931. The once-thriving houseboat communities along Arkansas’s White River are long gone, and few remember the sensational murder story that set local darling Helen Spence on a tragic path. In 1931, Spence shocked Arkansas when she avenged her father’s murder in a DeWitt courtroom. The state soon discovered that no prison could hold her. For the first time, prison records are unveiled to provide an essential portrait. Join author Denise Parkinson for an intimate look at a Depression-era tragedy. The legend of Helen Spence refuses to be forgotten—despite her unmarked grave. “Most memorably, Parkinson evokes the natural beauty of the White River itself. But more importantly, she’s given Helen Spence, daughter of the river, a sympathetic hearing—something in its pulp version of events Daring Detective did not.”—Memphis Flyer “Denise details Helen’s life, from the murder of her father to the horrific treatment she received at the hands of the law, including how prison officials seemed to entice her to escape a final time, with the attempt culminating in her murder.”—Only in Arkansas