The new novel fromNew York Timesbestselling andLos Angeles TimesBook Prize-winning author S. A. Cosby, “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction.” —Washington Post.

After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus Crown returns home to Charon County, land of moonshine and cornbread, fist fights and honeysuckle. Seeing his hometown struggling with a bigoted police force inspires him to run for sheriff. He wins, and becomes the first Black sheriff in the history of the county.

Then a year to the day after his election, a young Black man is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies.

Titus pledges to follow the truth wherever it leads. But no one expected he would unearth a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon.

Now, Titus must pull off the impossible: stay true to his instincts, prevent outright panic, and investigate a shocking crime in a small town where everyone knows everyone yet secrets flourish. All while also breaking up backroads bar fights and being forced to protect racist Confederate pride marchers.

For a Black man wearing a police uniform in the American South, that’s no easy feat. But Charon is Titus’s home and his heart, and he won’t let the darkness overtake it. Even as it threatens to consume him…

S. A. Cosbyis an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of theNew York TimesbestsellerRazorblade TearsandBlacktop Wasteland, which won theLos Angeles TimesBook Prize, was aNew York TimesNotable Book, and was named a best book of the year byNPR, The Guardian,andLibrary Journal,among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.

• Publisher:Flatiron Books (June 6, 2023)
• Language:English
• Hardcover:352 pages
• ISBN-10:1250831911
• ISBN-13:9781250831910
• Item Weight:1 pound
• Dimensions:6.12 x 1 x 9.25 inches