A Southern crime novel

When a hometown football hero turns up dead and the sheriff calls it an overdose, a grieving Marine veteran and the new girl down the street set out to prove what everyone in their small Mississippi town already knows: the family that owns it got away with murder again.

In a Mississippi town owned by one family, the truth has always been for sale.

Scooter Cruz has buried enough. He’s a Marine veteran still grieving the little girl he lost, and he watches over his street from a front porch with his best friend EZ, a red cooler, and a short list of people he trusts. The sheriff isn’t on it.

Daphne is new in town, a red-haired writer from Arizona starting over with nothing. She needs the paycheck, so she takes the only job on offer: working for Ricky Whitmore. He’s the man with GUDOLBOY on his license plate and a family history full of “accidents” nobody ever investigated.

Then a hometown football hero who owed Ricky money is found dead in his truck, and the sheriff calls it an overdose. Everybody knows Marcus never touched hard drugs. Everybody knows who’s behind it. And everybody knows the law in this county belongs to the Whitmores.

Told in Scooter’s and Daphne’s alternating voices, South of Hereafter is a Southern crime story about grief, second chances, and a love that shows up right when the danger does. In a small town, knowing who’s guilty is easy. Proving it can get you killed.