Laying Autumn's Dust: A Southern Tragedy About Betrayal, Revenge, and Murder: A Southern Tragedy About Betrayal, Revenge, and Murder: A Southern Tragedy About - Softcover

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Two murders and a suicide are linked to one long, dusty summer in rural Alabama. But the bones of secrets eventually get plowed up, and when the devil steals the angel’s share, there will be hell to pay.

Part murder mystery and part coming-of-age story, Laying Autumn’s Dust tells the poignant tale of a southern family carving out a living in a home stained with alcoholism and domestic abuse. The novel is set in northeast Alabama and features betrayal, revenge, and murder—as well as love, hope, and charity.

Concise writing, authentic dialect, and vivid images make Laying Autumn’s Dust an enthralling and memorable read. The story takes several twists and turns, and part of the fun of this novel is connecting all the dots to gain a better understanding of the consequences of secrets.

Mark L. Brooks hits a homer with this first novel if you love family dynamics, how each member plays on each other with the good, the bad, the most ugly, and how they can arrive victorious. Laying Autumn’s Dust is a novel told in three first-person voices. Donny, the father—you can feel sorry for him at first—is a man repressed, with a low moral compass, who can’t seem to rise above his worst instincts and doesn’t seem to care. He spreads his wounding to wife Abigail, who isn’t perfect but gives an unfortunate life her best shot. As for son Jesse—how much of Donny will affect him, and how much will Abigail’s soft resonance of strength steel him?

As the family grows and changes, you see each developing autonomy as the only answer when Donny’s shortcomings become a wedge. More like a backdrop for these highly dimensional characters, the plot features murder, suicide, mystery, and vengeance, as well as love, hope, and charity.

The pace is southern, like an evening breeze gently moving Spanish moss on an oak tree in Low Country. Brooks isn’t forcing readers to move too fast. But upon reaching the end, readers will feel part of this family and akin to the idea that Brooks is looking into us all.

Also at play is Brooks’ gift for one-liners: “So I sat and watched the leaves fall in the yard and float across the field—and I realized death come in all colors”.

Carol Plum-Ucci, Author
2x Finalist, Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Winner, Michael L. Prinz Honor Book Award

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