Down Came a Blackbird

Camelot West Virginia Book 2 - An Appalachian Gothic Mystery

By: Cyn Mackley

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

It’s John Wayne Orkney’s first week as a cop. There’s already one dead body, two old flames, a half-feral foster brother, and a murder suspect who once slept with him… and recently ran over the police chief with a mobility scooter.

Welcome back to Camelot, West Virginia—a down-but-not-out Appalachian town full of ghosts, grudges, and folks trying to claw their way back. Some with magic. Some with moonshine.

John Wayne never wanted a badge. He’s already juggling EMT runs, trying to launch a business, and keeping tabs on his three wild brothers. Then there’s Gallagher Lance—his newest half-feral foster sibling, who’s either emotionally damaged… or planning to murder him in his sleep.

Now Myrtle Lard—Camelot’s most hated citizen and one unforgettable mistake from John Wayne’s past—has a corpse in her front yard. The suspects? Too many to count. The crows? Watching everything. And the case? About to drag up a whole lot of secrets John Wayne thought he’d buried for good.

To solve the murder, he’ll have to survive small-town politics, supernatural signs, and a past that won’t stay buried. Oh, and rescue a cat. Because there’s always a cat.

This is the latest installment in the Camelot West Virginia series—a gritty, funny, Southern Gothic mystery saga where the King Arthur legend gets a modern Appalachian twist.

Written by real-life Appalachian crime journalist Cyn Mackley, who turns true police reports into story gold and mines her own mountain roots for magic.
If you love murder with a touch of mysticism, found family, and flawed heroes with big hearts and bad timing—start reading Down Came a Blackbird today.

While John Wayne is busy juggling murder suspects, feral brothers, and a town full of secrets, Misty Avalon is stumbling into an investigation of her own.

Still reeling from the murder of her beloved bartender Gwennie in Book One, Misty’s sworn she’s done with dead bodies. She’s got a comeback to plan. Once a Manhattan restaurant mogul, a cheating husband and a brutal bout with cancer brought her empire crashing down. She slunk home to Camelot in defeat, forced to sell off her beloved Avalon Castle—the literal fairytale on the hill—and start over slinging bar food at Misty’s Roadhouse.

But Misty’s plotting her rise. She’s revamping the bar, fighting to bring fresh food into a town where grocery store shelves are mostly dust, and trying to ignore the shady network of good ol’ boy businessmen standing in her way. Then Clay Kirby—her least favorite customer—winds up dead, and once again, Misty finds herself surrounded by secrets, suspects, and small-town scandal.

She’s got her hands full already: one castle-owning suitor in the form of older, wealthy newcomer Colonel Merle Emery, one upright younger contender in Sheriff Rickie Bearscamp, and bar patrons threatening to fistfight over Bigfoot sightings at the breakfast buffet. With her sister-in-law, Mayor Dreama Avalon, at her side and a few pitchers of margaritas at Casa de Enchilanda, Misty’s asking the questions the good ol’ boys hoped no one would.

And if the rumors are true, Camelot’s magic may not be just moonshine and mountain legend after all—and Misty’s about to find out if she believes in curses, crows, and a little backwoods faerie mischief.

Why kill a good story with terrible narration

I really think that the story was clever and interesting. I enjoyed the characters. The dialogue would have been so fun if delivered correctly. I wonder if the author even listens to this after it’s done because if it was my hard work I would cry at what AI has done to it.