Vintage James Lee Burke: The first novel introducing the memorable Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland, coming of age against the backdrop of the civil rights era in a sultry border town.

In hot and sultry Texas, Hack, an attorney and Korean War POW, is being pushed by his wife, his brother, and his so-called friends in the oil business to run for political office. But Hack would prefer to drink, look after his beloved horses, and represent the occasional long-shot pro bono case at his law firm. When Hack attempts to overturn a conviction for an old army buddy, he finds himself embroiled in...

Not only is Perry Woodson Hatfield James the "heir" to the legacies of the James brothers and the feuding Hatfield clan. He is coming of age in the despair-sodden world of moonshine whiskey in easter Kentucky's mining country in the early 1960s. The mine owners and the union are at war, the striking miners and the company scabs are at war, and Pett must somehow survive. At sixteen years old, Perry sets himself three tasks: avenge his father's murder; improve his and his family's lot; and escape to Cincinnati to find a "high-paying" job. But conditions in the hollows, his fellow miners, and...