They All Fall the Same

An organized crime boss in Kentucky believes money and power are everything until his enterprise collides with a family tragedy, in this gripping noir thriller perfect for fans of S.A. Cosby and Eli Cranor.

Cannabis kingpin Burl Spoon has reigned over the Jackson County area for three decades, building a powerful backwoods empire. But behind a well-run organization, his personal life is crumbling-his daughter can’t stay clean; his son has hated him since coming out; and after enduring years of infidelity, his wife is straying too. The only person not on his payroll who still adores him is his six-year-old granddaughter, Chelsea.

When his daughter overdoses on heroin laced with fentanyl and one of his employees is murdered, Burl’s retaliation against Clovis Begley, the patriarch of the heroin-dealing family involved in both deaths, is inevitable. As Burl’s plan spirals into a firestorm of vengeance that threatens the safety of his granddaughter, his drive for revenge conflicts with his longing for redemption.

On the brink of losing everything, Burl must find a path between retribution and protecting what’s left of his family.

Wesley Browne is the author of Hillbilly Hustle (West Virginia University Press, 2020) and the founder of Pages & Pints Reading Series at Apollo Pizza in Richmond, Kentucky. He is a member of MWA, has published in Appalachian Review and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, among others, and has a short story included in this year’s Bouchercon anthology, Killin’ Time in San Diego. Browne has practiced criminal law in Kentucky for over twenty years.