Stories of Life in a Small Town
Amazon Books, 2021
This series of short stories is set in my imaginary town in the southwest mountains of North Carolina, in the greater Asheville area.
These eight stories originated as sketches for secondary characters in cozy mysteries. However, the characters convinced me each had a story to tell beyond the obvious basic identity information. The characters didn’t give me any peace of mind until I wrote their stories. If I neglected them longer than they deemed necessary, one-by-one they perched on my left shoulder and beat bongo drums in my ear. I blame them for my less than perfect hearing in that ear. Fortunately, I have two. Ears, that is. You can blame the characters if you take issue with any of them. They know who and what they are and didn’t hesitate to tell me.
Despite what the residents believe, this book is really the story of Crawfordville, a town of some ten thousand people. The town is a character. It introduces itself and gives some history of the area. Crawfordville then introduces the first story. At the end of each story, it comments on the preceding story and introduces the next.
I hope you enjoy these simple—some not so simple—stories of
Life in a Small Town