Book picks similar to
The Fat of The Land by R. Allen Chappell


native-american
r-allen-chappel
short-stories
4-corners

The Unwashed


Seán Hogan - 2016
    Each story follows the life of a person living on a fictitious council estate in London. The stories illustrate the realities and struggles that ordinary people go through at a time when people are feeling disenfranchised and are frustrated at not having their voices heard. Ranging from a humorous look at the gentrification of London to the realities of living with addiction the stories place the reader in the shoes of each character allowing them to feel their emotions.

Mrs. Entwhistle: Once you're over the hill, you pick up speed.


Doris Reidy - 2017
    Entwhistle may look like your sweet, old granny...but things happen to her: she's caught up in the witness protection program, stuck in an elevator with an assortment of strangers, her house is burglarized and her dog is kidnapped. But Mrs. Entwhistle is dauntless; she didn't get to be a fesity seventy-eight by wimping out. Come join her on her porch swing, meet her best friend, Maxine, and her dog, Roger. Maxine will probably offer you a bowl of her homemade soup. Sit a while. Come back when you can.

A Grave Gala (Sugar Martin Vintage Cozy Mysteries Book 2)


Shéa MacLeod - 2019
    With some reluctance, she joins the rest of the glamorous attendees on the veranda for cocktails and dancing until the gala turns grave indeed when one of the guests is murdered. With the sure knowledge there’s a killer among them, Sugar sets out to unearth the secrets that led to the death of a peer of the realm. With the help of a grumpy corgi and a handsome Englishman, she’s on the hunt for a cold-blooded killer and she won’t stop until she gets her man! The second book in the Sugar Martin Vintage Cozy Mysteries set in post-WW2 England.

The Two Towns


J.J. Salkeld - 2014
     It is DC Jane Dixon's first week on Kendal's CID team. Her new boss, DI Andy Hall, gives her an open file to review, and it's a far from straightforward case. A woman has died in suspicious circumstances in a Windermere caravan park, and although her husband is suspected there's not a shred of solid evidence against him. Can Jane move the case forward, or will a cold-blooded killer really get away with murder? The rest of the team is busy too, because a vulnerable teenager from a troubled family has gone missing from home. There's nothing to suggest that the boy has been abducted, so what could have caused him to run away from home? DS Ian Mann, a tough ex-military man, and DC Ray Dixon are both heavily involved in the investigation. This story introduces key members of the investigative team, as well as many of the themes that are developed in the full-length Lakeland Murders novels: including a strong sense of place, and an understanding that while justice usually prevails it is rarely complete, or completely fair. Reader reviews for the full-length novels in the Lakeland Murders series include: 'Well developed, realistic, relatable characters, great plot, believable detailed scenes, good action sequences. Recommend to those that appreciate British detective novels. Always devour Lakeland murder mysteries.' 'Love J J Salkeld's books, his understanding of police procedure, his ability to draw his characters out into real people is, I believe, up there with the best of them and it is good to find crime stories set in Cumbria for a change.' 'Salkeld is good. Not just as a writer of gripping detective stories; but even more for his feisty exposure of the lunacies of institutions, hierarchies, and power. A refreshing and enlightening anarchist - much needed in these jaded, compliant and consumptive times.'

It's Killing Jerry


Sharn Hutton
    For treachery, blackmail and murder.He might be saving the world in his imagination as an MI5 agent, but Jerry's real life boss, wife and ex are all sick of his shenanigans and figure they’d be better off without him.More use dead than alive, he winds up on the news, reported missing and presumed murdered, his fate a mystery to all but one person. Lies used to make life easier, but now one thing’s for sure: being Jerry is murder.

A Brand New Hood Love


Johnazia Gray - 2017
    The hood raised her, but she's determined to let her humbled spirit take her out of it. Living a normal life is only a choice that she's made, however. Unlike Gianni, her mother, Tommy, is a bigger queen pin than any king pin in Tallahassee Florida and in the down south area. She takes care of Gianni and her two kids with no problems. Tommy could easily give Gianni the salon and big house that Gianni has always dreamed of, but Gianni wants to accomplish her goals on her own. Due to her mother being in and out of Federal Prison, Gianni reminds herself that she has two kids to think about, and she can not and will never leave her kids behind, like Tommy did her. Instead, Gianni allows her baby's father, Lamont, to take care of her and her kids. She feels he owes her that much, due to all the pain he's caused her. However, dealing with him has caused nothing but heartache, distraction and drama. After finding out about the third child that he could possibly have on her, she finally decides to stray away from him and focus on she and her kids. She meets a handsome and wealthy man by the name of Kreed at her mother's house during Tommy's known 'gambling day'. Kreed is a different breed, and though Gianni only wants friends so that she can do a little living, Kreed is hard to shake. He has that smart, hood, and smooth demeanor that Gianni admires. Being surrounded by drugs and a lot of money didn't mean a thing to Kreed. He loves his legal businesses and he enjoys living his life the right way. He's feeling Gianni just as much as she's feeling him, but he when Lamont finds out that there's a new man in town who's stole Gianni's heart, he makes she and her kids life a living hell. Which causes Kreed to bring out his old vicious ways! Tumultuous drama starts to unfold, and it will be up to Gianni to get everything in line to save what she has with Kreed.

Granta 152 (Granta: The Magazine of New Writing)


Sigrid Rausing - 2020
    

Vera & Linus


Jesse Ball - 2006
    VERA & LINUS is a series of short sketches. The book's theme is the love between the two protagonists, Vera and Linus. They are mischief makers and tricksters of the most daring sort, and they are constantly up to no good, but the language holds them with a clear restraint, a restraint born perhaps out of the peculiar nature of their love, a love both for each other and the things of the world. Their mastery, and shifting natures allow them to compel the workaday world as they see it, but not to rule over each other, and so their game begins, as Vera struggles to outwit Linus, and Linus to outwit Vera.

Whiskey Devil


Christian Galacar - 2013
    His father is an abusive drunk with muddled religious views, and his mother, as hard as she tries to defend her son, only ever ends up delaying the inevitable. Things take a turn for the worse one Friday when Bobby brings home a black eye from school. The following day his father brings him out into the woods on a mission to do “God’s Work” and bring him into adulthood. A coming-of-age story about the sins of a father and a son’s chance to absolve himself from them.

The Whistler: A Murderer's Tale


Ben Stevens - 2013
    

Emmy's Journey (Two Feather's Legacy Book 2)


Lila M Beckham - 2015
    Determined to do exactly what she sets her mind to, she explores the mountains and valleys around her home with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a keen eye that misses nothing. When her mother dies, Emmaline, Emmy for short, is thrust into the mystical, spiritual world of her mother’s native peoples, the Tsalagi, better known as the Cherokee. Given the power of observation and shape shifting by her immortal g-great-grandfather Two Feathers, who is the keeper of the Sacred Fire’s Ashes, Emmy is told that she must carry on her mother’s duties and is charged with the task of becoming the family “Ka no he ha Ka no Ge sdi,” the Storyteller. She is supposed to remember and pass down her family’s history and tell about their ancestors. As Emmy grows older and matures, her explorations become more advanced. She discovers a hidden path that takes her beyond an ancient willow tree to a layer of the world that at first seems much like her own, but she soon discovers that it is quite different… When she stays longer than allowed a mortal, she discovers that her grandfather can travel between space and time and communicate with all peoples between the layers of her world. Emmy’s Journey is a voyage through time and into the mysterious spiritual and mystical realms of the Cherokees and a world that most never knows exists.

The Nations


Ken Farmer - 2012
    It is the year 1885. A notorious band of outlaws, known as the "Larson Gang", has been terrorizing Arkansas, Missouri and the Nations for years. Judge Issac Parker, the Hanging Judge, orders an all-out concerted effort to capture the gang and bring them to justice. "If they will not respect the law; then, by God, we will make them fear it." Marshal Bass Reeves, the first black U.S. Deputy Marshal west of the Mississippi, along with his partner Jack McGann, two other deputies and two Indian Lighthorse are tasked to take the youngest member of the gang, Ben Larson, on the treacherous journey to Fort Smith with their prisoner shackled to the bed of the Tumbleweed Wagon. "It is not the severity of the punishment that is the deterrent… but the certainty of it." - Judge Issac C. Parker. The Nations blends historical and fictional characters to create a fast-paced action western.

First Project Gutenberg Collection of Edgar Allan Poe


Edgar Allan Poe - 2009
    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

The Amish Best Friend (Amish Country Mysteries Book 1)


Katie Fisher - 2017
    Will she find them? Life in the small Amish community of Orthause, Pennsylvania is predictable to Hannah Zook. As the teacher of the one-classroom school, Hannah is happy with her life and relationship with Gott. The only question she has concerns Eli Reimer, the Mennonite man who wishes to marry her. Eli is the sort of man Hannah has always dreamed of marrying. But in order to marry him, she must give up her faith and join his. But when a man is found murdered, Hannah ends up with much more than romance on her mind. The victim’s wife Martha recently left him, and everybody knows why. Now she’s the number one suspect. Hannah knows her friend is innocent and will do everything to prove it. She is joined in her quest by her childhood friend, Abram, who quietly supports her even when others tell her to mind her own business. And as she works to solve the murder, Hannah might just find the answers to her prayers about her future–and he might have been under her nose the whole time. AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is a 61-page stand-alone story with an HEA, so no cliff-hangers.

Mr & Mrs Nambiar


Sudha Nair - 2019
    A cute tale about how a housewife gets her groove back...Indu and Madan Nambiar have lead a well-settled, almost-perfect life for many years — and then, Madan retires.As their seemingly content coexistence is threatened, will they be able to strike a new balance? Will Indu be able to accept this new reality? Or will retirement be a new beginning for both Mr and Mrs Nambiar?Read this funny take on the repercussions of retirement.