The Novel
Blood on the Mother Road: No Place to Hide
Tulsa Author: Mary Coley
2022 Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction Winner!
A Curious Waitress … An Investigative Journalist … A Looming Disaster
When Claire Northcutt, a small-town journalist, travels to Persimmon, OK on old Route 66, she is researching an article celebrating the Mother Road. But after two local interviews, all she senses is a coverup. Is someone hiding toxic pollution in the community, or encouraging meth production, or both?
Unknown to Claire, her sometimes boyfriend Holt Braden, an under-cover agent with the DEA, is also in Persimmon. He’s assigned to watch Austin veterinarian Renee Trammel, who’s hiding in the Witness Protection Program. Renee is working as Rhonda in Tiny’s Route 66 diner until she can testify against a brutal Texas drug ring. What Rhonda inadvertently overhears puts a target on her back.
Unintentionally, the two women provoke the wrath of criminals intent on their evil pursuits. With Holt’s help, can they prevent a looming disaster in this community on Oklahoma’s Mother Road?
Mary Coley
Mary Coley, an Oklahoma native, is the author of eight mysteries, a non-fiction children’s book and numerous short stories. She has been a member of Tulsa Nightwriters and the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., since 2002, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Sisters in Crime. She has been a finalist in the Oklahoma Book Awards three times since 2015, and was honored to receive the Tony Hillerman Award from New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards in 2018 for her mystery, Blood on the Cimarron. She and her husband Daryl live in Jenks.