In 1988, Sloan Hadfield's brother Ridge went fishing with their father and never came home. Their father, a good-natured Vietnam veteran prone to violent outbursts, was arrested and charged with murder. Ridge's body was never recovered, and Sloan's mother-a brilliant ornithologist-slowly descended into madness, insisting her son was still alive.
Now, twenty years later, Sloan's life is unraveling. In the middle of a bitter divorce, she's forced to return to her rural Texas hometown when her mother is discharged from a mental health facility.
Overwhelmed by memories and unanswered questions, Sloan returns to the last place her brother was seen all those years ago: Crow's Nest Creek. There, she is shocked to hear a crow muttering the same syllable over and over: Ridge, Ridge, Ridge.
When the body of another boy is found, Sloan begins to question what really happened to her brother all those years ago. What she discovers will shock her small community and turn her family upside down.
A River of Crows is a tale of family secrets, deception, and revenge perfect for fans of Julia Heaberlin and Jennifer Hillier.
Praise for A River of Crows
"In A River of Crows, Shanessa Gluhm spins a complex web of murder and family revelation that propels the reader forward at a breakneck pace. Just when you think you know where the story is headed, she reveals another thread. If you haven't yet read Shanessa Gluhm, you need to put her on your to-be-read list."-Allen Eskens, USA Today bestselling author of The Life We Bury
"A twisted family dynamic and complex personal history combine with a touch of romance in Shanessa Gluhm's knockout second novel. A River of Crows grabs on with the opening pages and holds a reader tight to the very end."-Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell, author of All We Buried and the Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet) series
"Shanessa Gluhm is one of the strongest new voices in mysteries. Weaving two stories in the past that intertwine with a shattering climax, Gluhm has invented what could be a new genre: the family-driven mystery."-Rob Samborn, author of The Prisoner of Paradise and Painter of the Damned
"Shanessa Gluhm has created a complex world along the banks of Crow's Nest Creek that will completely absorb the reader. Gluhm peels away layers of family secrets in this dual timeline narrative, right up until the climatic final reveal, a twist that truly surprised me."-Laura Kemp, award-winning author of the Lantern Creek Series
"Shanessa Gluhm crafts a thought-provoking story of revelation, family ties, discovery, and murder. Readers who choose A River of Crows for its mystery will find an unexpected draw and value in the emotional components which keep the plot action-packed and charged with transformation."-D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
"Shanessa Gluhm, with literary panache, expertly shows what happens when a family strays from respect and honesty, with the consequence of it all, as dark as a crow's wing, unfurling, touching, and changing everything and everyone in its path."-Lone Star Literary Life
"Like the tumultuous river flowing at the center of this gripping tale, Shanessa Gluhm has crafted a pulsating story that is just waiting to pull you into its chilling depths and slowly reveal all its darkest secrets."-Indies Today