"Some people just need killing."
-Ned Parker, The Rock Hole
The Right Side of Wrong, the third Red River Mystery by Reavis Z. Wortham, will be available from Poisoned Pen Press in July 2013.
Pre-order it now from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound
Burrows ended as 1965 drew to a close with Constable Cody Parker's frightening precognition of gathering storm clouds for the tight-knit Parker family from Center Springs, Texas. The dreams proved accurate. Cody is ambushed and nearly killed on a lonely country road during an unusually heavy snowfall. With that attack, the locals begin to worry that The Skinner, from The Rock Hole, has returned.
Constable Ned Parker struggles to connect a seemingly unrelated series of murders as his nephew recovers. As the summer of 1966 approaches, rock and roll evolves to reflect the increasing unrest in this country, and the people of northeast Texas wonder why their once peaceful community has suddenly become a dangerous place to live.
Humor, suspense, horror, precognition, and life in the tumultuous 60s are examined with an unflinching eye by the author of the Red River series.
"Reavis Z. Wortham has masterfully reinvented the true meaning of 'heart pounding' by bringing fears to life right where we live. You'll burn through the pages of The Right Side Of Wrong from the first bone-chilling page."
—Sandra Brannan, author of the Liv Bergen Mystery Series, a two-time recipient of ABA Indie NextList
"Set in the 1960s, pits a group of Texas lawmen against a Mexican cartel in a gritty, dark and suspenseful Western with a final explosive showdown that kept me turning the pages late into the night to see who would survive. Wortham’s rich prose places him among the finest writers of American Western fiction today."
—Jamie Freveletti, Internationally bestselling author of Dead Asleep
Burrows, the second Red River Mystery, is available from Poisoned Pen Press.
Lyndon B. Johnson is President, Beatlemania is in overdrive and gasoline costs 30 cents a gallon when Ned Parker retires as constable in Center Springs, Texas. But his plan to live a quiet life as a cotton farmer will soon change. A phone call leads Ned to a body in the Red River and the discovery rips him out of retirement to help his nephew, the newly elected constable Cody Parker. Together they work to head off a multi-state killing spree that sets northeast Texas on fire. Read more about the book, and read an excerpt.
"I am often sent books for review or blurb, and I no longer allow many to come my way, as they stack up. Now and then if someone wants to send one with the understanding I may or may not get to it, or if I do, may not like, or if like, I may not comment, then that is another thing altogether. But, in going through my pile I came across Burrows, by Reavis Z. Wortham, and let me tell you, it is fine. It's a historical crime novel, if the sixties is historical to you. For me, not that long ago, at least in mind. But highly recommended."
—Joe Lansdale, author of The Edge of Dark Water
"Wortham's outstanding sequel to The Rock Hole (2011)... combines the gonzo sensibility of Joe R. Lansdale and the elegiac mood of To Kill a Mockingbird to strike just the right balance between childhood innocence and adult horror."
—Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
As a boy, award-winning writer Reavis Z. Wortham hunted and fished the river bottoms near Chicota, Texas, the inspiration for Center Springs. He is the author of Doreen's 24 HR Eat Gas Now Café. Humor editor and frequent contributor for Texas Fish and Game Magazine, he writes on everything from fishing to deer hunting. In addition to several other magazines, his work has appeared in American Cowboy and Texas Sporting Journal. A retired educator of 35 years, he and wife Shana live in Frisco, Texas. More about Reavis