Book Whisperer Linda Sullivan recommends another fictional series this week: Highway 59 by Attica Locke.
Attica Locke is an American fiction author who was named after the 1971 Attica Prison rebellion because her parents were active in the civil rights movement.
Locke is also a renowned writer/producer for some major television and film productions for Paramount, Disney, HBO, Fox, Netflix and DreamWorks.
I have been watching the Netflix series, Bass Reeves, based on the life of one of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshals who made more than 3,000 arrests in his lifetime. Coupled with my husband’s great uncles, the Texas Rangers involved in capturing outlaw Sam Bass, this Highway 59 series premised on a Black Texas
Ranger more than captured my fascination.
The first novel in the series is Bluebird, Bluebird and Linda says that although it is fiction, it is a story happening somewhere today. She listened to the audiobook while walking or working around the house but the action stopped her in her tracks several times.
Linda tells us this first novel’s plot has a Texas ranger struggling professionally and personally when he goes to a small east Texas town to investigate two murders: one Black male stranger and one local white woman. Race relations and small-town drama play a major role in the story.
Linda previews the second in the series, Heaven My Home, with a promised return of the character Darren Matthews. This time the Texas Ranger tries to solve the case of a missing boy while battling racism and prejudices in a small east Texas town. Unresolved family issues from the first novel are still ongoing.
The third book in the series, Guide Me Home, is coming out this year.
Remember: Knox County Online Library to search for Linda’s recommendations each week.
Don’t forget Reader Trip 2024 with Book Whisperer on the Danube: see story Reader Trip 2024 Story.
All of us have a story and I want to tell yours! Send them to susan@knoxtntoday.com.