Archives par étiquette : Crooked Lane & Alcove Press

THEY ALL FALL THE SAME de Wesley Browne

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.

THEY ALL FALL THE SAME
by Wesley Browne
Crooked Lane, November 2024

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 founder and host of Pages & Pints Reading Series at Apollo Pizza in Richmond, Kentucky. He lives with his wife and two sons in Madison County, Kentucky.

WE KEPT HER IN THE CELLAR de W. R. Gorman

This dark and twisted retelling of Cinderella will sink its teeth into you and keep you guessing from beginning to end, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Naomi Novik.

WE KEPT HER IN THE CELLAR
by W. R. Gorman
Crooked Lane, September 2024

Eunice lives her life by three simple rules: One, always refer to Cinderella as family. Two, never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. Three, never look upon Cinderella between the hours of twelve and three a.m.

Cinderella has dark and terrifying powers. As her stepsister, Eunice is expected to care for her and keep the family’s secret. For years, Euince has faithfully done so. Her childhood flew by in a blur of nightmares, tears, and near-misses with the monster living in the cellar. But when she befriends the handsome Prince Credence and secures an invitation to the ball, Eunice is determined to break free.

When her younger sister, Hortense, steps up to care for Cinderella, Eunice grabs her chance to dance the night away – until Cinderella escapes. With her eldritch powers, Cinderella attends the ball and sweeps Prince Credence off his feet, leaving behind a trail of carnage and destruction, as well as a single green glass slipper.

With Cinderella unleashed, Eunice must determine how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice in order to stop Cinderella. Unsettling and macabre at every turn, this page-turning horror will bewitch horror fans and leave its readers anxiously checking the locks on their cellar doors.

W.R. Gorman attended Macalester College and Hamline University, where she studied linguistics and Hispanic studies, and teaching Spanish, respectively. Her hobbies include cooking, snuggling cats, and reading absolutely everything she can get her hands on. She now resides in Saint Paul with her partner, child, and three extremely mischievous cats.

THE DISCO WITCHES OF FIRE ISLAND de R. B. Fell

THE DISCO WITCHES OF FIRE ISLAND is a smart, sexy story of love, romance, magic, and the power of community, sure to captivate readers of Alexis Hall, Casey McQuiston, and Madeline Miller.

THE DISCO WITCHES OF FIRE ISLAND
by R. B. Fell
Alcove Press, May 2025

It’s 1989, the height of the HIV/AIDScrisis, and Joe Agabian has hopped on the ferry to spend his first summer in Fire Island Pines, a popular beach destination for young gay men. Joe is grieving the death of his boyfriend Elliot, who died two years earlier from AIDS. Though Joe is HIV negative, he remains lost – in nearly every sense – and hopes spending the summer away from NYC will help him find his way.

He quickly finds himself enmeshed with a group of long-time locals, including an older couple – Howie and Lenny – who may or may not have mystical powers, and a gorgeous ferryman – Fergal – who can’t keep his eyes off Joe. When Joe begins seeing a mysterious figure – whom he refers to as Gladiator Man – around the island, Howie and Lenny grow fearful, certain Gladiator Man’s presence, which somehow only Joe can sense, is a harbinger of terrible things to come.

Howie and Lenny are longtime protectors of the island and its inhabitants, and that protection has never been more needed. But now that one member of their coven has fallen ill with AIDS, they aren’t strong enough to use their powers to full effect, and Joe is the one caught in the metaphorical crossfire.

Blair Fell, writing as R.B. Fell, writes and lives in New York City, where he has been an ASL interpreter for the Deaf since 1993. His acclaimed debut novel The Sign for Home was published by Simon & Schuster in 2022. Fell’s television work includes Queer as Folk and the Emmy Award-winning California Connected. He’s written dozens of plays, including the award-winning plays Naked Will, The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, and the downtown cult miniseries Burning Habits. His personal essays have appeared in HuffPost, Out, Daily News, and more.

END OF AUGUST de Paige Dinneny

Aurora Taylor has never had so much to lose.

END OF AUGUST
by Paige Dinneny
Alcove Press, February 2025

It’s almost summer in 1979, and 15-year-old Aurora Taylor is a week shy of finishing her first full year at the same school. She’s desperate to see it through, because every end to her single mother’s chaotic romantic relationships results in a disruptive and sudden move. So many moves that Aurora needs more than two hands to count all the towns she’s lived in and the friendships she never got a chance to make.

So when her mother Laine shows up at school with the car loaded, Aurora thinks her latest fling finally put a nail in this town’s coffin. Instead, it’s her grandpa Jay’s death calling them back to the town Laine’s been running from since Aurora’s conception, when Laine was just fifteen and Aurora’s Gran was the town drunk.

Between her mother and Gran’s explosive relationship, and the whiskey Gran’s returned to to drown her sorrows, Aurora gives their visit to the little blue house in Monroe, Illinois a week, tops. But when Laine begins an intense affair with the married mailman, everything changes. For the first time in her 15 years, Aurora has time to fall in love too—but this time with the town. It’s not unlike most of the small towns in Indiana Aurora has lived in, suffocating summer heat included, but this one has streets and people and places she is given a chance to know and love. It has a girl Aurora can call her best friend. A Gran who loves Aurora even as she fights for control over her own worst nature for the third time in her life. And a picture-perfect pastor’s son who sees Aurora as more than “Laine’s daughter.” It’s everything Aurora never thought she would have to lose. It’s everything she would never let herself dream about.

But each time the illicit lovebirds slip into the back bedroom, Aurora sees her chances at happiness slipping away. Laine won’t just burn a bridge this time, she’ll light the town on fire, burning Gran’s hope, Aurora’s future, and her own chance at redemption to the ground with it.

Paige Dinneny earned her MFA from Cal State Long Beach and writes primarily about the relationships between mothers and daughters. She was born and raised in Southern California, but now resides in Franklin, Tennessee with her sister and two cats. She briefly taught academically, but much prefers interacting with people as a retail store manager.

ON THE SURFACE de Rachel McGuire

A YouTubing cruiser couple sails the world living their best life—until one of them goes missing and their whole world capsizes, in this captivating psychological thriller perfect for fans of Something in the Water and Saint X.

ON THE SURFACE
by Rachel McGuire
Crooked Lane Books, July 2024

Sawyer Stone III and Dani Fox, a young couple who spends their time circumnavigating the globe aboard their 42′ sailboat and documenting it for their fledgling YouTube channel Sailing with the Foxes, have anchored in Exuma, in the Bahamas.

As they wait for the price of crypto to rebound so they can provision and continue their journey, they’re partying and exploring with their fellow cruisers off shore. But one night, Dani vanishes after a boat party, and Sawyer has no memory of her disappearance.

The search for Dani is initially fueled by concerns that she disappeared during one of her daily ocean swims, but friends soon reveal that Dani’s relationship with Sawyer is not quite as perfect as everyone thinks it is.

Meanwhile, Royal Bahamas Police Force Inspector Knowles has her hands full trying to keep the investigation on course as the story of the American woman missing in the Bahamas goes viral and the internet sleuths unearth secrets from Sawyer’s past. Sawyer Stone is far from perfect, but is he a murderer?

This twisty, edge-of-your-seat thriller will keep readers gripped all the way through the final satisfying turn.

Rachel McGuire is the pen name for the collaboration between Rachel Graham and Lee-Ann McGuire Whitlock.

Rachel Graham has worked as a firefighter, paramedic, clinical researcher, and health consultant. She lives in San Diego, California with her family.

Lee-Ann McGuire Whitlock is a former lawyer, serial entrepreneur, and national pub trivia champion several times over. She and her husband, two children, two Cavalier King Charles spaniels split their time between Arkansas and Vancouver, Canada.

ON THE SURFACE is their first thriller.