Cry Me a River: A Novel of Suspense

A fast-paced, hard-hitting novel of mystery and suspense set in the rural South in the turbulent 60's. Beginning with the ambush of Sheriff Luke Ballard on Halloween in the Hampton, Alabama town cemetery, Cry Me a River takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the sheriff's life and the towns seamy underbelly. Small-town gossip, bootlegging, the KKK, high school romances, corruption, and greed all play their role in this tightly-written, non-stop mystery. In a series of flashbacks, Luke returns to Hampton for a last visit with his dying mother after serving in Special Forces and sees for the first time the corruption, racism, and pettiness that has taken over his much-despised home town. Despite serious misgivings, he allows himself to be talked into running for sheriff and wins. As his past and the town's social and moral structure become clear to the reader, the mystery deepens, as the length of viable suspects grows. The complexity of small-town social structure, and the winds of change sweeping the country in the late 60's are starkly and thoroughly examined. In the end, only Luke, aided by his handful of friends, can unravel what really happened.Patricia Hagan is the author of 'Cry Me a River: A Novel of Suspense' with ISBN 9780918339553 and ISBN 0918339553.