When Ghosts Come Home: A Novel

Product Description
An Amazon Best Book of 2021
I loved it and devoured it with fury, straight to its blazing end.” —Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers
The eagerly awaited novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home, a tender and haunting story of a father and daughter, crime and forgiveness, race and memory
When the roar of a low-flying plane awakens him in the middle of the night, Sheriff Winston Barnes knows something strange is happening at the nearby airfield on the coast of North Carolina. But nothing can prepare him for what he finds: a large airplane has crash-landed and is now sitting sideways on the runway, and there are no signs of a pilot or cargo. When the body of a local man is discovered—shot dead and lying on the grass near the crash site—Winston begins a murder investigation that will change the course of his life and the fate of the community that he has sworn to protect.
Everyone is a suspect, including the dead man. As rumors and accusations fly, long-simmering racial tensions explode overnight, and Winston, whose own tragic past has followed him like a ghost, must do his duty while facing the painful repercussions of old decisions. Winston also knows that his days as sheriff may be numbered. He’s up for re-election against a corrupt and well-connected challenger, and his deputies are choosing sides. As if these events weren’t troubling enough, he must finally confront his daughter Colleen, who has come home grieving a shattering loss she cannot fully articulate.
As the suspense builds and this compelling mystery unfolds, Wiley Cash delves deep into the hearts of these richly drawn, achingly sympathetic characters to reveal the nobility of an ordinary man struggling amidst terrifying, extraordinary circumstances.
Amazon.com Review
Wiley Cash (
A Land More Kind Than Home,
The Last Ballad) delivers a spellbinding novel that is part family drama, part police procedural, and part race-reckoning in a small Southern town. When Sheriff Winston Barnes discovers an empty plane at the airport near his Oak Island home one night, and a slain Black man lying on the runway next to it, the small town erupts in a buzz of rumor, innuendo, propaganda, and outright racism. Barnes is up for reelection and certain he’ll lose to his younger, corrupt, good ol’ boy opponent. And that opponent is looking to make political hay out of the way Barnes handles this investigation.
When Ghosts Come Home is a stunningly well-written portrait of a beleaguered man trying to do the right thing, faced with an evil that lurks in all the suspected places, but in a few unsuspected places also.
—Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
Review
"Taut, tense, and tender—this novel hits every note. I loved it and devoured it with fury, straight to its blazing end.” --
Lily King, author of Writers and Lovers\n“In
When Ghosts Come Home Wiley Cash reveals how family and history and the threads that connect us can contain such mystery. This is a masterful example of storytelling, told by one of the most open-hearted and clear-eyed writers I know." --
Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here\n“A searing, thunderous, heartbreaking thriller. Wiley Cash has talent to burn.” --
Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End\n"A treatise on race in America wrapped in a family drama wrapped in a mystery, it brings us a thoughtful examination of a good man's struggle to do right under trying circumstances. Cash puts his whole heart on the page with these flawed, true characters, and the reward is ours." --
Therese Anne Fowler, author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald\n"A fascinating, nuanced meditation on life - both the living of it and the taking of it - in the crucible of small town America. Wiley Cash is our guide through this maze of old secrets and fresh hurts. Take his hand, follow his lead and face the truth." --
S.A. Cosby, author of Blacktop Wasteland\n“
When Ghosts Come Home is a gripping