Small Town America

Two true tales of small-town murders Unfriendly: How a social media feud led to a double homicide When the bodies of Bill Payne and Billie-Jean Hayworth were discovered in their Mountain City, Tennessee home on January 30 2012, investigators initially assumed it was a drug deal gone awry. However, soon their attention was drawn to a vicious online feud that had been simmering in full view of the entire town of Mountain City for over a year. What followed was an unbelievable case involving a CIA agent, a secret relationship, and an impressionable local man who had never had a girlfriend. At ...

When musicians in the New York folk scene of the 1960s grew tired of city life, they decided to "get it together in the country". They headed for Woodstock - not to the site of the infamous music festival of 1969 but to the Catskills, to Bearsville, to Woodstock proper. Counterculture revolutionaries like Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, and Paul Butterfield got "back to the land", turning the once sleepy hollow into a funky Shangri-La.

A collection of stories capturing what it means to be a cowboy.

When the world crumbles, a broken man finds hope where he least expects it in the grit and quiet strength of a small Montana town. Cole Ramsey thought he’d left rural life behind for good. He poured his soul into big tech solutions for a cutting-edge smart city, only to be cast out as a scapegoat amidst corruption and scandal. He's blacklisted and adrift when a letter about his grandfather’s death pulls him back to the family ranch he had long abandoned. What he finds in Bridger’s Pass isn’t a simple homestead in disrepair. It’s a community clinging to old ways. Neighbors who ...

After the loss of her husband a year ago, Grace Evans can’t continue with her career or her life in the city any longer. Lost emotionally, she sells her law practice and decides to spend her summer among the sandy beaches of Florida, taking care of an old inn in Naples Beach with her childhood friend Susan Willows. Maybe the lush palm trees and sun-drenched days filled with sand between her toes will help her find direction again. What she doesn’t expect to find is a secret tucked away in an old hidden locket that will change her life forever. And making things more complicated is local...

During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of rural Templeton, Iowa - population just 418 - were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by Joe Irlbeck, the whip-smart and gregarious son of a Bavarian immigrant, the outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor worked together to create a whiskey so excellent, it was ordered by name: Templeton Rye.

A beloved folk singer presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishes. Dubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America's small towns. She has played...

Based on a remarkable true story. Winter, 1969. Since she was a little girl, Catarina learned not to ask for much. Born to a family of corn farmers in rural south Brazil, she was happiest when she was surrounded by sprawling fields and burly, familial farmhands—until her family was driven out of the land they had worked diligently for years, and Catarina was sent to work for a wealthy family in São Paolo. Only ten years old, Catarina becomes a housemaid—and the lifeline of her family. Far from everyone and everything she’d ever known, she discovers the shocking gap between her life ...

Two Brits, George and Mark, set off from New York City to explore the back roads of America. In this calamity-ridden travel tale, George sets out in true clichéd fashion to discover the real America. Throw in plenty of run-ins with the police, rapidly dwindling finances, and Josephine - the worst car in the world - and you have all the ingredients for a classic American road trip. Will George and Mark make it all the way to California? And then there is Rachel, George's girlfriend, left back in England.

Suddenly widowed with no means of support, Evelyn Peerbaugh hangs a “for rent” sign in front of her large Victorian home and her life changes in ways she never dreamed of. In a matter of days she becomes the owner of a busy boardinghouse and must now cope with the lives and emotions of the most incompatible group of women ever gathered under one roof. How will Evelyn manage? What will her future be like now? “The Sister Circle,” Book One of this charming contemporary series, introduces Peerbaugh Place, the quaint Victorian house that becomes a refuge to seven women of vastly ...

Gracie sees a chance of fitting in at her South Carolina private school, until a "white trash"-themed Halloween party has her steering clear of the rich kids. Samuel's Tejano family has both stood up to oppression and been a source of it, but now he's ready to own his true sexual identity. A Puerto Rican teen in Utah discovers that being a rodeo queen means embracing her heritage, not shedding it...

Small Town Dreamer is a rallying cry for those who live in small places and dream of more. Danna Larson, the heart and voice of Rural Revival, celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of rural dreamers, sharing stories of courage and creativity that redefine what’s possible.

Evelyn is not so sure she likes the new dynamics of Peerbaugh Place, her impromptu boarding house. Even though it had been hard adapting to strangers living in her home, she and the other women (from The Sister Circle) had found a calm cove of sisterhood. Now Evelyn is forced to start over with a new set of boarders — with more challenging personalities and problems. Evelyn fears that the bonds of sisterhood may not come as easily this time. ’Round the Corner, Book Two of this charming contemporary series, continues the timeless, heartwarming story of Peerbaugh Place, the quaint ...

The Great Covid Migration is upon us. As the Covid-19 pandemic upends the standards of life across America, are you ready to leave the stress, hassle and taxes of the big city for small town America? If you tired of paying high taxes, ridiculous parking fees, wanting more social distancing, having increased stress levels by living in the Big City? If so, this book is an absolute must… Within the next few minutes you'll find hidden gems of knowledge and wisdom that will change your life forever! But, before you go any further, ask yourself the following questions?- Is living in the big ...

Readers’ Favorite 5-Star Award A captivating historical novel with spell-binding mysteries, inspired by actual people, places and events. B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree A compelling novel with several sub-stories in different settings and time periods that bring life to each one. Helen Ainsley is a best-selling mystery writer struggling with cancer. She returns to her childhood home in rural Brattleboro Vermont for the serenity she hopes will rekindle her imagination. Ainsley Hill Farm was originally an Inn dating back to the American Revolution. With a new-found friend, an old golden ...

“I am afraid of the dark, and this fear is gaining power over me with every moment I spend in the cellar. My stepmother is perfectly aware of this fear; I even used a nightlight to go to sleep when I lived upstairs. If she wanted to punish me, click, off it would go, leaving me to cry in the dark. Fear is not always rational, it is powered by your imagination, or an accumulation of past experiences that teaches you to be afraid. In this cellar I have an abundance of fears to choose from, be it the creations of my own mind or the reality of where I am.” It began with the purchase of an ...

Willow Shorts has told herself the same thing for years – she doesn’t want a divorce. But deep down, she knows there’s more to life than laundry and loneliness. Her husband, Charlie, had promised to give up his workaholic ways this summer. But it’s been months, and nothing has changed. In an act of desperation, Willow leaves her husband a note, drives south through the night, to stay at her best friend’s summer cottage on Sanibel Island. The first few days are filled with sandy streets, sunshine and crystal blue water, just as she imagined. It’s only after 4 days have passed ...

The long-awaited sequel to “Saving Stacy: The Untold Story of the Moody Massacre,” St. Clair’s new thriller is “Killing Dan Ott: Corruption and Murder in Small Town America.” It’s the tragic true-crime story of a case of mistaken identity that took detectives from Geauga County, Ohio, ten long years to solve. Why so long? Logan County corruption. Dan Ott was a 31-year-old pug grower, an expert at planting seedlings to grow into blooms. He didn’t know what caused him to wake up early that Friday morning, May 26, 2006. With the car fully loaded, Dan was anxious to move, ready to...

Olivia Cameron always knew she was adopted. What she didn’t know is that her birth family would come back into her life 47 years later… Just days after her husband’s death, Olivia gets a call that she might have inherited a beach cottage in Cape May. Except she’s never been to Cape May, and the lawyer explains it has nothing to do with her husband’s recent passing. Nestled in front of an old vineyard, the cottage is exactly the fresh start she needs. Although she’ll need to provide proof of her identity within 30 days before it goes to the person next in line. When she arrives ...

Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did, and after 10 years in England he decided to go home, to a foreign country. In an ageing Chevrolet Chevette, he drove nearly 14,000 miles through 38 states to compile this hilarious and perceptive state-of-the-nation report on small-town America.