Down Don't Bother Me

<p>A hugely entertaining debut--the first novel in a wickedly funny gothic mystery series set in the withering landscape of the southern Illinois coal country known as little Egypt--that blends the wry humor of Kevin Wilson the dark violence of Urban Waite and the electric atmosphere of Greg Iles.</p><p>In the depths of the Knight Hawk one of the last working collieries in downstate Illinois the body of a reporter is found his mini-recorder tied around his neck and a notepad stuffed in his mouth.</p><p>The Knight Hawk's owner Matthew Luster isn't happy. He wants answers--and he doesn't want the cops or any more press poking into his business. To protect himself and the operation he turns to Slim a mine employee with a reputation for bloodhounding-finding lost souls when the police can't or won't. Luster needs Slim to locate a missing photographer named Beckett a close associate of the victim . . . who just happens to be his son-in-law.</p><p>A hard-working single father barely making ends meet Slim accepts the job--after Luster offers him a guaranteed pension and job security for life. But when you make a deal with the devil you're going to get burned . . . . and now Slim is all too close to the flames. Circumstances have lead him into the grimy underworld of Little Egypt Illinois--a Babel's Tower of rednecks rubes freaks tweakers gun nuts and aging hippies-and it quickly becomes clear that he's much more involved in the murder than an innocent man should be.</p><p><em>Down Don't Bother Me </em>marks the emergence of a wildly assured mystery novelist and of a series set in the fresh and brutal landscape of southern Illinois.</p>