About the Book:

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.

I loved so much of this book. Despite being advertised as a murder mystery, this book is so much more. An atmospheric, small town drama with a strong character driven plot, I read this book in one sitting. My complaint? It ended far too quickly!

The mystery slowly builds as each POV adds their own story and opinions on how this will change their lives. When this small town sheriff discovers a plane crash and a body, he must first find the crew and cargo. He's facing personal challenges that would bring a lesser man to turn his back and walk away but still mounts an investigation that many others do not want to see investigated. As Wiley Cash adds layers and clues, readers will be challenged by almost every chapter to find the people behind the crimes.

It took me a little while to get into the story, but I gave it a chance and it caught my attention probably around 30% in. I had high hopes at that point but then towards the end it felt like the author was trying to cram in too much in very little time. Lots of loose ends and jumps and it didn’t really feel resolved either.

Absorbing and suspenseful! Well drawn characters and a mystery that weaves through the richly drawn story kept me nailed to the page! A haunting story that will stay with me for a long time.

This was a mystery that was more than the typical mystery. A southern sheriff in the 80s investigates a mysterious plane crash in his tiny town coupled with the dead body of a local. You know things aren't right. Everything comes together in the end. Well written good book.

1984, Oak Island, North Carolina. Sheriff Winston Barnes is awakened in the middle of the night by a low-flying plane going over his house. Rushing to the airport, he discovers a partially wrecked plane, empty, and a dead man lying on the runway. Barnes, facing a tough election in less than a week, is determined to solve the crime. His wife has cancer, his daughter comes home following the loss of her baby. The FBI steps in because this crime involves drugs. All the racist issues, the hatred of others, the insularity of Oak Island, all come to the front as the Sheriff tries to solve the crime.

Determined to do the right thing, even though it will probably cost him the election, the plot continues to somehow revolve around the downed airplane and Sheriff Barnes. This is very much a character study, with lots of introspection on the part of Barnes. The ending felt somewhat rushed and tacked on, with nothing building up to the ending.

When Ghosts Come Home written by Wiley Cash

A historical mystery set in 1984 on Oak Island, NC. A small town is thrown into turmoil when Sheriff Winston Barnes just discovered a dead body next to a crashed airplane.

I really loved how the author crafted this story. melancholy and engrossing. At the heart is the close knit family. Colleen is a young lawyer in Dallas who recently had a miscarriage. She unexpectedly leaves her husband because she didn't know what to do with her grief and coming home to her mother who is battling cancer. Her father, the sheriff is running for another term against a rich, racist bigot who terrorizes black folks with guns and Confederate flag & he's likely to lose.

As Sheriff Winston digs deeper he uncovers the resentment underneath the facade of his town.

The characters are flawed but all three POVs (Colleen, Winston & Jay) are relatable and I felt what they felt, grief, anger and sadness as they dealt with their own tragedies. The ending was unexpected and I felt a sense of sadness. While not fast paced, I felt it was well paced and interesting throughout.

In WHEN THE GHOSTS COME HOME, Wiley Cash crafts a novel rich in character and atmosphere: these people and the complicated dynamics of southern life will linger in the reader's mind. A slow-burning, but impeccably woven story--highly recommended.

A good crime novel with Cash's singular voice. This is for true crime fans and fans of Cash's other works.

Sheriff Winston Barnes and his wife are awaken in the middle of the night by a low flying plane. Winston, even though he is getting on up in age, refuses to pass off his duty. He heads out to find out exactly what is going on. He soon discovers more than he bargained for.

If you are from the south…you know all about Sheriff Winston Barnes. We all had one just like him in our hometowns. However, I believe this one is more honest than most. Winston is a stand up guy and he really cares about his people. He is not afraid to take on his enemies!

This is a slow burn of a read and I enjoyed it from start to finish. I usually am not a fan of books like this. But the characters are amazing and I just had to find out why all these strange things were happening in this small town.

Need a quick, murder mystery with a kick! THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

This was my first book by Wiley Cash and I really enjoyed it and his writing style. It is a deep and sad book but not in an off-putting way. There are many emotional elements to the story that had me completely invested in the characters and the outcome. Cash is a great storyteller and he set the scene so well I felt like I was living in North Carolina in 1984 and experiencing the events of the story. I love a good mystery and stories about social issues and complex family dynamics so this was perfect for me. I have seen other reviewers complain about the ending but I thought it was appropriate. I would recommend this book and read more by this author. **Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow/Custom House for this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. Wiley Cash is one of my very favorite authors. He’s a brilliant storyteller, and When the Ghosts Come Home has great tension and suspense from the very first page.

I know others have loved this one, but I had a really hard time pushing through it. Murder mysteries are not usually my genre. Cash is a talented writer and I loved the themes addressed here even if the story wasn’t my favorite.

It is 1984 and the sound of a low-flying airplane awakens Sherriff Winston Barnes one night. He goes to check the airfield to make sure that everything is okay. What he finds is an empty airplane sideways on the runway and a dead man. What he doesn't see is a pilot. Sherriff Winston Barnes finds himself in the middle of the most important investigation of his life. With re-elections looming, Winston knows he needs to solve this murder in order to keep his job as sheriff and the insurance for his sick wife. As he gets deeper into the investigation, he discovers his little coastal town is simmering with an undercurrent of deadly racism. Will Winston be able to solve the murder and keep his job?

When Ghosts Come Home is a compelling mystery set in a rural southern state. Winston Barnes is a noble, if not naive, man. It is 1984, the overt racism running through his town and his department should not surprise him. But it does. I loved Wayland's commitment to doing the right thing. For his wife, for his daughter, Colleen, for the victim's father, and for his community. It really made him seem like a good guy. Colleen's story was tragic in its own right. Her grief left her spinning - almost out of control - but going home is exactly what she needed to do. The book took a slow-burn approach and culminated in a heartbreaking conclusion. - CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS

Bottom Line - When I saw that When Ghosts Come Home made the Amazon "Best Mystery Books of 21" list I knew it was going to move to the top of my TBR. While it wasn't the fast-paced kind of thriller that I am used to reading, the shocking conclusion made it worth the read.

Details:
When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
On Facebook
Pages: 304
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 9/21/21
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Wiley Cash and his writing style and this was no exception. Have already been selling it day to day and would recommend for any other southern fic/mystery fans.

I really enjoyed this read. I loved the small town feel and really enjoyed the lead characters and that they both had separate storylines. I thought the author did an excellent job of making some of the characters so unlikeable, so much so that it made me gasp out loud at some of their actions. As much as I enjoyed this read, the ending was a bit disappointing and almost feels like it could possibly be a cliffhanger, leaving the option for a sequel to be written. Overall, very enjoyable read.

Wiley Cash is a talented writer and his approach with a mystery in this book was well done. The time frame and location of the story was handled well. From the racial tensions spread through the pages to father-daughter relationship to the murder, this was an emotional journey. It was refreshing to read about an honest and highly principled character. The ending was rather abrupt, but the book is worth diving into and getting lost in the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

Cash, Wiley, When Ghosts Come Home covers four days in 1984 in a North Carolina island town where the sheriff wakes to a plane crash at the local airport and finds a man shot dead and no cargo. Suspecting drug running, the sheriff investigates while dealing with his wife’s cancer and his daughter’s return home after losing her baby. The man killed was a respected young black man. A racist white developer and too many plot twists interfere with a good story.

I'm a big fan of emotional reads and books that take place in small towns so this one was right up my alley and it did not disappoint. Racism, addiction, and other important issues were touched upon and made them very relevant to today. Wiley Cash is a fantastic story teller and I will be reading more of his books.

Acclaimed author Wiley Cash takes readers back to Oak Island, North Carolina in 1984, beginning the story with local sheriff Winston Barnes feeling more than hearing a plane pass over the home he shares with his wife, Marie, at 3:18 a.m. Neither of them has ever before heard a plane come in at that hour or flying as low as it sounds like this one was. Sixty-three-year-old Winston drives across the bridge leading to the small regional airport, and discovers a single vehicle in the parking lot -- a 1978 Datsun registered to Rodney Bellamy, one of their daughter's classmates. Rodney has no criminal history and is the son of Ed Bellamy, a history teacher -- one of the few Black teachers in the county -- who "stood up against harassment and violence during school integration." When he proceeds to the end of the runway, Winston discovers an old military plane, too large for the small runway, with its landing gear broken in half. He also finds Rodney's body in the grass along the runway. There are no fingerprints in the plane, and Winston's deputies quickly begin speculating that the flight was a drug run, a theory Ed staunchly rejects.

Winston commences an investigation to determine why the plane crashed, where the pilot went, whether Rodney's death is related to the crash, and who killed him. Rodney's wife has reported him missing after he left home in the middle of the night to purchase diapers. Now it falls to Winston to inform Ed that his son is dead, and Janelle Bellamy is a widow who must face raising her child alone. Winston must meet with her at her home in the Grove, an old part of town where Janelle's younger brother, Jay, has come to spend the summer. Jay is fourteen and got into trouble, so their parents felt it would be best if he spent time with his older sister. But he's again getting into trouble . . . that could prove deadly.

On the same morning, Winston's daughter, Colleen, makes her way back to Oak Island without telling her husband, Scott, an assistant U.S. attorney in Dallas. They are "two people constructed of pain and grief," who seem unable to find their way back to each other after the devastating loss of their child four months earlier. Colleen was supposed to take the Texas bar exam after the baby came, but her desire to become a lawyer has been completely usurped by her grief. The only thing she wants is her son -- "the only thing she could never have." Scott's insistence that they can get through mourning their son together only angers and frustrates Colleen, who is mired so deeply in loss that she cannot appreciate that Scott is also grieving in his own way. Every day she is fixated on the ghosts of the child and future they lost.

The Barnes family moved to Oak Island from Gastonia in 1963 after Winston responded to a robbery in progress inside a pharmacy. A man was holding the pharmacist, cashier, and a few customers hostage. When he pointed his gun at Winston, Winston shot and killed him. Winston carries the burden of having taken a life, an event that profoundly and irrevocably changed him.

When Ghosts Come Home is the first murder mystery that Cash has penned and the book is a stunning achievement. Over the course of four days, Winston navigates clues to what happened on that night and why, during the course of which he learns that his opponent, Bradley Frye, and his cronies are unabashedly terrorizing Rodney's family and other Black residents. When not on duty, he must deal with Colleen's return and Marie's ongoing health struggles. Cash injects surprising twists galore on his way to revealing the truth.

Cash was inspired, in part, by events that took place in the 1980s. World War II-era aircraft ended up on small airfields and even a pasture in North Carolina's Brunswick and Columbus counties. Their cargo? Drugs. Cash chose to set the book in that era because he sees it as a "rich time" in which to explore themes of racial tension and socioeconomic disparities, in addition to a riveting mystery. Cash grew up in Gastonia in that decade and wanted to plumb the assumptions people had about each other in the midst of turmoil -- school desegregation, the AIDS crisis, Ronald Reagan's presidency, and his wife's "Just Say No" war on drugs chief among them. He believably transports readers back to that time, establishing through his characters the way day-to-day life unfolded before smart phones, the internet, and electric vehicles.

While When Ghosts Come Home may be, in Cash's assessment, his most plot-driven work to date, it is indeed an intense, emotionally resonant character study, as well. Particularly absorbing is the manner in which Cash portrays Winston's handling of the issues confronting him and the people he is sworn to protect. He is decent and principled, committed to his career and family, and determined to see justice done, even as the FBI inevitably takes the investigation away from him. Indeed, Winston and Marie take one of the FBI agents into their home, providing him with a place to stay while working on the case. Cash also tells the story from Colleen's perspective as she realizes that retreating to her parents' home constitutes a change of scenery, but not an escape from her feelings or the problems in her marriage. And she attains a new appreciation of her parents and their lives. Through Jay, Cash reveals how deep the racial divide in Oak Island is, illustrating how Bradley Frye and the local sycophants who follow his orders terrorize and threaten the young man and his family, riding through the neighborhood at night with Confederate flags flying, hurling racial epithets, and damaging property. Some of Winston's deputies are aligned with the racist thugs and have no interest in making arrests or protecting the citizens they are determined to intimidate. Winston finds their behavior abhorrent and inexcusable. Frye, the son of a real estate developer, is intent on building tony golf courses and subdivisions, no matter the consequences for the environment or the current residents.

When Ghosts Come Home may be set nearly forty years ago, but Cash adeptly observes that the themes of the story "are still haunting us." Thus, the book is both timeless and timely. His characters are nuanced, flawed but richly empathetic, their struggles relatable. There is no debate about where ethical lines are drawn, which makes Cash's gut-wrenchingly shocking conclusion all the more powerful and unsettling, as well as hauntingly unforgettable.