"When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she's not only North Carolina's richest woman, she's also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate--along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish--pass...

An old woman born in 1900 reflects on the joys and sorrows of her long life, commenting on them with wisdom. She is Roxanna Slade, matriarch of a rural family, and her story gives a portrait of the South before the great changes. Rosanna begins her story on her twentieth birthday--a day that introduces her to the harsh realities of adulthood and changes the course of her life forever.

"Two investigations start at the same time in Swann County, North Carolina, one by the FBI, the other by the sheriff. The feds want to know who stole three Stinger missiles during a helicopter crash. The sheriff wants to know who hanged a black ex-con in a well. Seb Creek, a sheriff's detective, gets involved in both investigations and fights through lies, secrets, and murder to find the killer. The trail involves a long-ago axe murder, the ravages...

Enduring the mistakes and tragedies that have shaped their lives in contemporary Appalachia, a sheriff on the brink of retirement and a haunted park ranger confront violent forces when an elderly local is accused of poisoning a trout stream.

When her bookstore is targeted by a family-values group during the Halloween season, Nora Pennington and her fellow readers investigate a suspicious death that occurs at the same time Nora discovers an ominous message under her doormat.

"In this ordinary North Carolina suburb, family secrets are always in bloom. Samantha Montgomery pulls into the driveway of her family home to find a massive black vulture perched on the mailbox, staring at the house. Inside, everything has changed. Gone is the eclectic warmth Sam expects; instead the walls are a sterile white. Now, it's very important to say grace before dinner, and her mother won't hear a word against Sam's long-dead and little-missed...

A body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to Lowes Motor Speedway near Charlotte just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for race week. The next day, a NASCAR crew member shares with Tempe a devastating story. Twelve years earlier his sister, Cyndi Gamble, then a high school senior who wanted to be a professional racecar driver, disappeared along with her boyfriend, Cale Lovette. Lovette kept company with a group of right wing extremists known...

Laura Foster, a simple country girl, was murdered and her lover Tom Dula was hanged for the crime. With the help of historians, lawyers, and researchers, McCrumb visited the actual sites, studied the legal evidence, and uncovered a missing piece of the story that will shock those who think they already know what happened.

Recovering from breast cancer and reeling from her husband's infidelity, Mia flees to the mountains of North Carolina, and seeks refuge in a neglected cabin belonging to her fly-fishing instructor, where she unknowingly reopens a tragic family scandal.

"With a crisp bite in the air, Miss Julia is enjoying a well-earned respite by her new fireplace. But autumn leaves aren't the only things falling: James, Hazel Marie's housekeeper, has had a nasty tumble down some stairs. How can Hazel Marie feed and take care of him--not to mention a husband and two babies--when she barely knows how to boil water? Miss Julia jumps in to help by convincing the ladies of Abbotsville to put on their aprons and give...