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

The fates of Miwok?Indian Mary,? Elitha Donner of the Donner Party, and proud Californio Pedro Valdez entwine in a drama of passion and power on the ranch now owned by the author. 1844-1853.

A New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club Pick-the unique and deeply moving saga of four generations of African-American women whose journey from slavery to freedom begins on a Creole plantation in Louisiana. Beginning with her great-great-great-great grandmother, a slave owned by a Creole family, Lalita Tademy chronicles four generations of strong, determined black women as they battle injustice to unite their family and forge success on their own terms. They are women whose lives begin in slavery, who weather the Civil War, and who grapple with contradictions of emancipation, Jim Crow, and the pre-Civil Rights South. As she peels back layers of racial and cultural attitudes, Tademy paints a remarkable picture of rural Louisiana and the resilient spirit of one unforgettable family. There is Elisabeth, who bears both a proud legacy and the yoke of bondage... her youngest daughter, Suzette, who is the first to discover the promise-and heartbreak-of freedom... Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene, who uses a determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard-of economic independence... and Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, who fights to secure her children's just due and preserve their dignity and future. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Cane River presents a slice of American history never before seen in such piercing and personal detail.

The sins of the past come back to haunt Doc Ford and his old friend Tomlinson in this thrilling novel from New York Times-bestselling author Randy Wayne White, now in paperback. Marine biologist and former government agent Doc Ford is sure he's beyond the point of being surprised by his longtime pal Tomlinson's madcap tales of his misspent youth. But he's stunned anew when avowed bachelor Tomlinson reveals that as a younger man strapped for cash, he'd unwittingly fathered multiple children via for-profit sperm bank donations. Thanks to genealogy websites, Tomlinson's now-grown offspring have tracked him down, seeking answers about their roots. . . but Doc quickly grows suspicious that one of them might be planning something far more nefarious than a family reunion. With recent history on his mind, Doc is unsurprised when his own dicey past is called into question. Months ago, he'd quietly "liberated" a cache of precious Spanish coins from a felonious treasure hunter, and now a number of unsavory individuals, including a disgraced IRS investigator and a corrupt Bahamian customs agent, are after their cut. Caught between watching his own back and Tomlinson's, Doc has no choice but to get creative--before rash past decisions escalate to deadly present-day dangers.

Faith Frisbee fled Mustang, a small western town, years ago after a devastating event that could have broken her. Now she has returned, a strong, independent, and compassionate woman, and she's brought with her a flock of unwanted and orphaned children she's collected the way other women gather flowers by the roadside to raise as her own on her remote farm. Joe Condie is intrigued by this tough, independent woman and her boys and, after numerous rejections, finally wins Faith's resistant heart. But with Joe's marriage proposal, Faith feels vulnerable all over again. Faith has forgiven and healed from the terrible wounds of her past, and she wants to be Joe's wife, but not until she can trust him with her darkest secret. When Faith gets up the courage to reveal what happened in her past and that the man who caused her troubles is still freely walking around Mustang, Joe must find it in himself to forgive and let go of his anger before it drives a wedge between him and the love he's fought so hard to win.

Three friends return to their Texas hometown, and a supernatural war that will decide the fate of worlds, in this horror thriller. As teenagers, Molly, Byrd, and Wade faced inconceivable evil in an underground labyrinth on the banks of the Rio Grande. Now they are reunited as adults, about to discover that their terrifying experience was only the beginning. Something has drawn the three friends back to their small Texas town and the caves in which they faced their fate. A mysterious force is plunging them into a supernatural war that spans across the globe, through raging rivers, mysterious murders, long-buried gods, and secrets worth dying—or killing—for.

A heartbreaking and compelling story of a family's experiences of slavery and the American Civil War. From Sam Tademy, the son of a runaway slave, and his fiercely strong wife Polly, to the father and son who witness unspeakable crimes, this is a story in which courage and hope do battle with almost unendurable suffering; where real lives collide with history.