The Cypress Verdict
Cypress Bend, Louisiana. November 1883.
Acting Sheriff Hollis Cain walks into his predecessor's office and finds the man shot dead, the evidence cabinet pried open, and one item missing - a ledger no one was supposed to know existed.
That ledger documents a twelve-year land fraud that stole hundreds of acres from freedmen, poor whites, and widows through forged tax liens and rigged auctions. A scheme engineered by the county's most beloved judge. Protected by the very lawmen sworn to stop it. And worth killing for - twice.
Now five people want that ledger for five different reasons, and none of them are clean.
A compromised sheriff carrying evidence that could destroy him. A patient widow running a four-year con of revenge. A talkative bounty hunter hired by someone he's never met. A terrified courthouse typist who lit the fuse without knowing it. And a judge's drunken son who has killed twice and is losing his mind.
Told out of chronological order across colliding timelines, The Cypress Verdict is a dark, sharp, bloody Southern noir where every chapter reveals a new secret - and earlier chapters gain new meaning with each one. In a town where law, land, race, religion, and money all contaminate each other, the truth is the most dangerous thing anyone can hold.
For readers of literary crime fiction, historical noir, and novels where the violence is ugly, the humor is dry, and nothing is what it looked like the first time you read it.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
