Small Town Politics

This is the story of a local government manager who got hired by a small mountain town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in his first city manager job. The job got complicated from the first day and developed into more and more complexity.

The Nomination is a fast-paced action and suspense thriller that brings events from the final days of the Vietnam War into direct conflict with contemporary American politics. Vietnam War hero and Massachusetts Judge Thomas Larrigan is hand-picked by his friend the president to fill the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court. Larrigan seems like the perfect candidate: a family man with an uncontroversial judicial record. The president's credibility needs a sure bet. Larrigan will do anything to win the nomination, but he has some old skeletons rattling around in his closet. He calls his old Marine buddy, now a hit man, to sweep the closet clean.

‘You’re not to disturb, annoy or offend. They’re walking on a knife edge out there, anything could tilt the balance.’ Missing: one junior diplomat and 43 of the British Embassy’s most confidential files. The timing is alarmingly significant: with neo-Nazi riots and radical student...

In the late 1960s, in the town of Bonn, capital of West Germany, a British Embassy officer by the name of Leo Harting goes missing—and forty-three confidential-or-higher files with him. Dispatched from the British Foreign Office to investigate, Alan Turner arrives in Bonn to find riots, protests, and a tenuous balance of power. As if there isn’t enough pressure, the embassy’s head of Chancery, Rawley Bradfield, makes it clear he has no intentions of making Turner’s investigation an easy one.

Following the 2016 election, writer Heather Lende was one of thousands of women inspired to take a more active role in politics. Though her entire campaign for assembly member in Haines, Alaska, cost less than $1,000, she won! But tiny, breathtakingly beautiful Haines isn't the sleepy town that it appears to be: from a bitter debate about the expansion of the fishing boat harbor to the matter of how to stop bears from rifling through garbage on Main Street we witness the nitty-gritty of passing legislation and how the polarizing national politics of our era play out in one small town.

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.

From the number-one New York Times bestselling author and FOX News host Trey Gowdy comes a dark mystery debut about a murder in a small South Carolina town. Assistant DA Colm Truesdale must pick up the pieces of his own life in order to solve the case. Following the death of his wife and...

“Fascinating! [A] must-read for all concerned about how humans manage to live together. Or not.” —Margaret Atwood “Superb... an instant true crime classic.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A masterfully told true story, perfect for fans of Say Nothing and Furious Hours: a brutal...

"Simultaneously hilarious, poignant, and deeply unsettling." ―The New Republic A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take...

In Juneau, a young Native archeologist is sent to protect the ancient burial sites uncovered by an Alaskan gold mining company. He never returns. In Anchorage, a female torso - minus head, hands, and feet - is washed ashore near a jogging trail by the airport. It is not the first. At Alaska’s Fugitive Task Force, Arliss Cutter and deputy Lola Teariki are pulled from their duties and sent to a federal court in Juneau. Instead of tracking dangerous fugitives, Cutter and Lola will be keeping track of sequestered jurors in a high-profile trial.

Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.

Inheriting her aunt's historic beachfront hotel should have been Vanessa Lewis's chance at a fresh start. But returning to Isabel Island means facing two ghosts from her past—her aunt's legacy, and Wesley Anders, her childhood best friend who broke her heart fifteen years ago. Now a decorated Marine Captain, Wesley is temporarily stationed at the local base, and he's just as infuriatingly handsome as he was the summer everything she thought she knew about their friendship changed. Between his offer to help renovate the hotel and their undeniable chemistry, Vanessa finds herself falling ...

Early one morning in the summer of 1999, authorities in the tiny West Texas town of Tulia began a roundup of suspected drug dealers. By the time the sweep was done, over 40 people had been arrested and one of every five black adults in town was behind bars, all accused of dealing cocaine to the same undercover officer, Tom Coleman.

Written and read by New York Times bestselling author of They Knew, Hiding in Plain Sight, and The View from Flyover Country, Sarah Kenzidor, The Last American Road Trip navigates a changing America as Sarah and her family embark on a series of road trips in an audiobook that is part memoir...

“Welcome to Sweetfern Hollow, where charm and comfort come served with a side of scandal. When Lila Avery reopened The Honeycomb Hearth bakery, she expected the usual ups and downs of small-town business ownership—burned cakes, quirky customers, long hours. What she didn’t expect was murder. In a town where everyone knows everyone (and their favorite pastry), secrets still have a way of hiding in plain sight. But Lila is about to learn that behind every sweet smile and neighborly wave, there might be something darker lurking.”

As a dual national with an American father and a Canadian mother, I've lived on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. As a child, we'd drive over Detroit-Windsor's Ambassador Bridge to see my grandparents in Canada. As an adult, my wife Jean and I went in the opposite direction to visit our parents in the United States. Looking back, my life has been one damn thing after another, on both sides of the border. Born in a New York City, I grew up as a country boy fishing and hunting in a small downstate Illinois town called Danville in a dysfunctional family. Like many, the unhappiness in my ...

Whether in Truman Capote’s detailed murder of the Clutter family or Ted Bundy’s small-town charm, criminals have always roamed rural America and towns worldwide. Featuring murder stories, criminal case studies, and more, The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns contains all-new accounts from writers of true crime, crime journalism, and crime fiction. And these entries are not based on a true story - they are true stories. Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, the stories in this volume span the globe.

Welcome to Maple Falls—a town of cobbled sidewalks, cinnamon-scented mornings, and neighbors who know your business before you do. This is where Clara Benson has built a life one baked good at a time, quietly creating comfort in a world that can sometimes feel anything but sweet. But even the warmest kitchens can’t keep out a cold-blooded secret. This story was written for readers who love a little intrigue with their tea and a touch of romance beneath the powdered sugar. It’s about courage, community, and that moment when an ordinary day turns into something extraordinary. So, pour ...

Art critics can KILL a career but MURDERING the ARTIST??!! Deception and secrecy permeate the intricate tapestry of Tumblebrook’s past revealing hidden agendas and veiled vendettas. But when the town's revered coppersmith is discovered dead, whisperings of mystery eclipse the fall festival celebration. A perceptive innkeeper, Amelia Farnsworth trades guest registers for crime-solving when her cozy sanctuary becomes the epicenter of intrigue. Supported by her clever feline companion, Lady Grey, and the lively Clara, Amelia delves into the enigma surrounding the coppersmith’s death. ...

Welcome to a small-town Emergency Room in rural Ohio. While it's true our ER doesn't see the stabbing and gunshot action ERs see in inner cities, we have no shortage of the sad, the scary, the painful, and the just plain dumb. With more than 20 stories, things ER workers want to say to patients, and Emergency Room bingo, A Double Dose of Dilaudid will take you on a joyride to the funnier side of the ER. See what a bored husband did to get out of a date night with his wife, find out what happens when you try to make your own meth, and more.