Let Me Die in His Footsteps

The scents of Lavender and regret are heavy in this suspenseful coming-of-age novel centering on two generations of rural Kentucky women—and those unlucky enough to become enmeshed in their lives—from Edgar-winner Roy (Bent Road). The devastating tale alternates between chapters set in 1936 narrated by Sarah Crowley and chapters set in 1952 from the third-person perspective of teenage Annie Holleran, whom Sarah has been raising as her daughter. But the key figure, never heard from directly, is Juna, Sarah’s younger sister (and Annie’s birth mother), a seductive, sinister force responsible for sending one man to the gallows and a boy to his death. Gifted (or cursed) with Juna’s startling black eyes and a sixth sense country folk call “the know-how,” the spirited Annie has been making nearly everyone uneasy for as long as she can remember. Annie’s discovery of a dead body on a neighboring farm leads to the unearthing of long-buried, still-dangerous secrets. This powerful story inspired by the last legal public hanging in the U.S. should transfix readers right up to its stunning final twist. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (June)