Reva
Blackmon is a reluctant probate judge in the small town
of Sand Valley, Alabama. She lives in a rock castle with
turrets and a moat thanks to Franklin Roosevelt and the
New Deal and walks on one leg thanks to a drunken railroad
engineer on the Southern Pacific. She sings Wednesdays and
Sundays in the choir at the Methodist Church and believes
in reincarnation the rest of the time. Her husband, Wendell,
is the love of her life, stretching back down the corridors
of time.
Wendell Blackmon is the disgruntled policeman in this
same small town. He rides herd on an unlikely collection
of reprobates, rogues with names such as Deadhand
Riley, Gilla Newman, Otter Price, and Blossom Hogan. Law enforcement in this
venue consists of breaking up dog fights, investigating alien abductions, extinguishing
truck fires, and spending endless hours riding the roads of Sand Valley. Unlike
his wife, Wendell does not believe in reincarnation. Nor does he believe in
Methodism, Buddhism, or Santa Claus. But he does believe
in Reva, and that belief has been
sufficient to his needs over their many years together.
But the routines of Sand Valley are about to change. A
burned body has been discovered at a local farm named Sorrow
Wood. The deceased is a promiscuous
self-proclaimed
witch with a checkered past. Wendell investigates the crime, and the list
of suspects includes his deputy, the entire family of the
richest man in town,
and nearly everyone else who knew the departed. As the probe continues, a
multitude of secrets are revealed, including one that reaches
from the deep past all
the
way to the rock castle. Who was this woman who met her end at Sorrow Wood?
Where did she come from? What were the mysterious circumstances surrounding
her death,
and what did her presence mean to Wendell, Reva, and the remainder of the
inhabitants of Sand Valley?
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“Raymond
L. Atkins has written a richly textured mystery, a complex
blend of Southern Gothic, social
satire, and page-turning whodunit. Reminiscent of Clyde Edgerton
with its down-home characters, of James Wilcox with its uproarious
humor, Sorrow Wood nonetheless has
its own distinctive voice, and a more than distinctive charm.
This is a novel destined
to please many readers.”
~ Greg Johnson, author of Pagan Babies and Women
I’ve
Known: New and Selected Stories
“Atkins’ flair
for poetic prose is not only beautiful and enjoyable, but
also clever and meaningful.”
~ Ken Anderson, author of Someone Bought the House on the
Island
“Like all great Southern writers before him, Raymond
Atkins knows how to spin a yarn. With trenchant wit and lucid,
poetic prose, he weaves the homely with the divine, creating
characters that glow with human life. Façades don’t
last long in Sorrow Wood—these
people know each other whether they want to or not, and their
interactions inevitably
lead to the kind of conflict that bares souls. Under the skillful
direction of a master storyteller, Wendell, Reva, Otter, Deadhand,
Eunice, and their kin, friends, and foes, weave a plot that
holds the reader fast to the page.”
~ Melanie Sumner, author of The School of Beauty and Charm
“Sorrow Wood is
sure to please readers looking for a good old-fashioned
page-turning thriller, replete with a
grisly murder, plenty of twists, and a surprising and yet
logical ending. But it’s more than that—at bottom
this is a love story between the two most unlikely guardians
of the law to come along in a long, long time: Reva Blackmon,
local judge, and Wendell, her policeman husband—destined
to be together, perhaps since the dawn of time. A story at
once funny, sad, and profoundly hopeful.”
~ Man Martin, author of Days of the Endless Corvette
Sorrow
Wood will be reviewed with a 1-book giveaway
on October 5, 2009 on the book review blog
~ She Is
Too Fond of Books
"Raymond L.
Atkins’ strength is in his writing
style, and his ability to create living, breathing individuals
with just a few critical details." To read the full review,
click here
~ Fashion Piranha
"Raymond
L. Atkins brings readers another southern classic."
For more, click here
~ ReadersFavorite.com
"The finely
crafted, descriptive turns of phrase impart wry wit that
make this a rare pleasure to be savored like
fine wine." To read the full review, click here
~ MonstersandCritics.com
"Beautifully
written with bouts of hilarity only a small-town native
could truly appreciate (and perhaps relate to), Sorrow
Wood is another ballpark home run for Atkins." For
more, click here
~ The Bookshelf Reviews
"As with his
debut novel, Atkins has created a cast of colorful characters
with his latest novel." For more,
click here
~ TheInsideCover.com
"The
narrative is rich with exquisite detail." To read the
full review, click here
~ Blogger News Network
"Subtle humor and
mostly pitch-perfect prose distinguish Atkins's compelling
mix of mystery and romance, set in 1985 with flashbacks
to the 1930s and '40s. When Wendell Blackmon, the 59-year-old
police chief of Sand Valley, Ala., investigates the murder
of a self-proclaimed witch whose charred body was found at
a farm called Sorrow Wood, he discovers that the victim was
loathed by many in her occult-as-an-excuse-for-free-love coven.
Meanwhile, decades earlier, after a painful childhood, Wendell
meets his future wife, Reva, falls in love and marries her
in the course of a week. Together they build a family. Reva,
who serves as Sand Valley's probate judge and believes in
reincarnation, believes she and Wendell have shared several
lifetimes, indicated in historical vignettes throughout. Atkins
(The Front Porch Prophet) smoothly weaves past into present
as the action builds to a final poignant twist."
~ Publisher's Weekly
“. . . fans
will enjoy love through the ages on a par with the epics
of Barbara Delinsky and Danielle Steele.”
~Harriet Klausner, MidwestBookReviews.com (August2009)
"[Atkins'] book takes many twists and turns along the
way to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Mr. Atkins
has once again created a place I didn’t want to leave."
~ North Georgia Living Magazine (August 2009)
"
. . .a casually clever, darkly humorous mystery."
~ Atlanta
Magazine (September 2009)
“Forget the murder plot. It’s
not that important. What is important is the story of a
great and enduring love.
Atkins clearly loves his characters. You will, too.”
~Michael Scott Cain, Rambles.net (October 2009)
|
Article
by author Raymond L. Atkins on LiketheDew.com, an online
journal of Southern politics and culture. To read
the article, click here
Sorrow
Wood was
recommended on June 10, 2009 on the women's fiction blog, "Beyond
Her Book," which
is available on PublishersWeekly.com For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was noted with author interview on
July 21, 2009 in The Sentinel, the official student
newspaper of Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA.
For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was featured on July 28, 2009 on the
blog, RomeNewsWire.com. For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was noted on July 10, 2009 on DothanEagle.com,
the Web site for The Dothan Eagle. For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was
noted on June 16, 2009 on ajc.com, the Web site for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution in conjunction with
author Raymond L. Atkins’ receipt of the 2009 Georgia
Author of the Year Award. For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was
noted on June 16, 2009 on HometownCherokee.com (9,304 visitors
per month), in conjunction with author Raymond
L. Atkins’ receipt of the 2009 Georgia Author of the
Year Award. For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was
noted on June 16, 2009 on HometownCobb.com in conjunction
with author Raymond L. Atkins’ receipt
of the 2009 Georgia Author of the Year Award. For more, click here
Sorrow
Wood was featured with author interview
in conjunction with a 5-book giveaway on August 1, 2009
on the book giveaway Web site, Free Book Friday. For
more, click here
|
