Palm Beach Gothic

From the author of Kinetic Blue comes Palm Beach Gothic: nine linked stories of Southern Gothic gone Floridian, part queer mystery, part social comedy, with affectionate portraits of subtropical eccentricity."An unconventional approach to the mystery genre... an identity far outside the standard whodunit." The BookLife PrizeAlong Dixie Highway, where Palm Beach's gilded world ends and something rawer begins, elegance adjoins ruin. From the Covid-policed beaches of California to the polo fields of Wellington, from the sashay of Key West drag queens to a megachurch service built on smoke machines and selective scripture, from moss-draped Savannah to a Florida gothic all its own, these stories orbit the pink Colony Hotel on Palm Beach Island, with its spectral leprechauns and disappearing monkeys, and a dive bar called Mad's with a bright red door.At the heart of the book is the title novella, "Palm Beach Gothic: A Tale of Midnight on Dixie Highway." A glamorous, sardonic drag performer known as Miss Aperitif holds court among loyalists, misfits, and colonizers, until a rainy Pride night ends in violence no one will acknowledge and grief no one quite knows how to perform.Inside you'll find: - A hit-and-run investigation that is anything but a standard whodunit- Queer social comedy, Florida Gothic, and subtle supernatural touches- Family sketches, cultural satire, and Palm Beach privilege meeting dive-bar drama- Miss Aperitif, Hans, the Leprechaun, the Colonel, and the Owner, an ensemble you won't forget"At its best, the collection feels like someone looking closely at the people and places around him and telling you exactly what he sees." IndieReaderBiting satire and real empathy, together: who we are in private, and what we owe others when the people we love are gone.Perfect for readers of A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt who want Southern Gothic with a queer, funny, Floridian heart.