A sheriff in the south in the 1980s has a mystery on his hands. Someone abandoned an airplane on the runway of the local airport. While there's nothing in the aircraft, there is a body on the tarmac, and soon local folks draw the conclusion that the dead man was involved in drug running. It's all inflamed by racism (the victim is Black) and a red-hot campaign to replace the sheriff with a man who is openly white supremacist, given to terrorizing the Black community that lives on a plot of land he would like to develop.

The pros: a strong sense of place, a gnarly mystery, and a sympathetic protagonist. Character development is in depth and involving. The author doesn't shy away from dealing with racism.

The cons: the conflict is far from subtle and the villain is so villainous it's a bit much. In real life, there are political actors who are shockingly corrupt and racist without apology, but somehow in fiction I want a little more subtlety. Is that a failure to address real life in all its ugliness? Maybe .... but compared to the complexity and detail devoted to the sheriff's and the victim's families, his opponent seemed to be drawn with a crayon.

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 3.5/5 Plot: 3/5
A crashed plane in the middle of the night in a small airfield in North Carolina. The dead body of a local black man is found nearby. A sheriff up for reelection in a week and very likely to lose to a younger man who is at the very heart of a good old boy network — to which many of the deputies also belong. And a daughter who returns home suddenly after the heartbreaking loss of her baby. These are the elements of this literary mystery.

The writing is very good in terms of the carefully crafted sentences and the sensitivity and depth of the main characters (Winston Barnes, the sheriff; his daughter; and to some extent Jay, the young black boy who is sent to live with his sister, the now widow of the victim). For me, the plot teetered between gripping and extraneous. Although the crime and the sheriff are front and center, this reads like literary fiction far more than crime fiction and the elements of plot that work to solve the crime are like sudden jagged edges introduced in spurts. I had a very hard time with the characters as well (other than the three I’ve mentioned). They were deeply stereotyped, reinforcing the dangerous divides our country is facing. Bradley Frye — property developer, running against the sheriff for reelection — drives a truck with confederate flags, calls black people the “n” word regularly, and has no trouble terrorizing the town. I also hated the ending — there was enough obvious foreshadowing that it was easy to see what was going to happen but somehow the sheriff didn’t. He behaved uncharacteristically, and I’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. The daughter theme resolves but had little to do with the crime plot.

I did enjoy much of the reading, but the ending and the stereotypes were such that I can’t recommend it.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the fall. I’m a big fan of Wiley Cash’s previous books. That said, this one was not my favorite. Had it not been described as a mystery, my expectations might have been different and I may have liked it better. But it’s not really about the mystery. It’s not really about where the plane came from or who the killer is. It’s a character study and a story about family and grief and racial tension in a small Southern town. All of which I enjoyed. But the ending was disappointing and left me unsatisfied.

This great slow-burn of a novel centers around a small-town sheriff trying to do the right thing - and finding that what he feels is morally right doesn't' always align with what his job/the law would deem right. In a coastal North Carolina town, Sheriff Winston Barnes is woken in the night by a strange noise from the nearby airfield, which turns out to be what he least expects: a large cargo plane that has crash-landed, with no pilot in sight, and a dead young black man from the community lying nearby. This kicks off an investigation involving the FBI looking for drug dealers, and Winston trying to protect the fate of his community but also his job as he runs for re-election. Interspersed with the (slow-burn) investigation are the perspectives of Winston's adult daughter, coming home for a visit as she tries to cope with a recent pregnancy loss, and the teenaged brother-in-law of the murder victim, who gets caught up in the racial tensions in the town. This made for lots of emotional resonance and good character depth in terms of family relationships and community racial tensions, and I also really enjoyed the 1980s setting, the way family dynamics/past actions were woven into the mystery, and the overall plot with a slow burn that left me jaw-dropped in the end, based on how well everything tied together but also surprised me. Recommend for fans of books like We Begin at the End, or even Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird; while less gritty perhaps, it similarly is a slow-burn mystery related to the town's past that brings to light how current racism still is.

Winston Barnes, Sheriff of a Coastal North Carolina town in the 1980s, is investigating a plane crash. The pilot, passengers, and cargo have disappeared, a young black man is dead, and everyone is a suspect. At the same time, racial tension is exploding in the town, and the Sheriff's daughter has left her husband and returned home. To top it all off, the Sheriff is in the middle of running for re-election.

This is a mystery told from multiple points of view, but also the story of a town torn apart by racism and corruption.. Racism is the main theme, but the issue of grief is also explored. The author gives us a look deep into the hearts of the characters, especially Jay, Ed Bellamy, Winston, and Colleen. Not many mysteries can touch the heart, but this one does by baring the souls of the characters so well. It is written with the slow, rhythmical pace of a small town, but will sometimes reach out and slap you in the face with a shock or surprise, just as life sometimes does.

Fans of mysteries will enjoy this book, but anyone who loves a well-developed story with complex characters should give this a read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

I loved this book so much that I devoured it in a day. If you love to read books/authors set in North Carolina you will not be disappointed. It was based in Oak Island, North Carolina and a thriller/crime mystery. It was an emotional story of grief and loss. It was a man attempting to use his power and money to gain public office as well as land. It was story of race and injustices. It is absolutely worth the read!

Trigger warnings - death, infant death, drugs, murder

Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow books for the #gifted arc.

This was such a fantastic read! Wiley Cash is another one of those authors whose works I’ve had on my TBR for a while but never got around to reading. Despite this being my first book of his, I still went into this one with high expectations, mostly because I’ve heard so much about his works and how great of a storyteller he is — I wanted to see / experience it for myself. Well, I can say with certainty now that I’m so glad I did, as I now have another author to add to my favorites list!

Set in Oak Island, North Carolina, the story follows Sheriff Winston Barnes over the course of 4 days in the fall of 1984, as he investigates a mysterious murder. On the night before Halloween, Winston is jolted awake by what sounded like the crash of an airplane — when he goes out to the airport in the middle of the night to investigate, finds more than he bargained for: next to a huge airplane lying with its tail broken on the runaway, Winston finds the body of a black man who had been shot to death. As the investigation in the subsequent days slowly brings to light the truth of what happened that night, the small island town is forced to reckon with the community’s deeply rooted racial prejudices that get repeatedly stirred up by a Confederate flag-toting local man hellbent on ousting Winston from his job. There were technically three different threads to the narrative — the main one told involving the investigation into the mysterious abandoned plane and an equally mysterious murder, a secondary thread from the perspective of Winston’s daughter Colleen, who returns to her parents’ home bearing insurmountable grief over a devastating loss, and a third thread from the perspective of Jay, a teenaged black boy who is also he brother-in-law of Rodney Bellamy (the man found murdered on the airport runway). Through these three intertwining perspectives, the full picture of what happened eventually emerges.

In addition to the fabulous storytelling, the other thing I loved about this book was the realistic depiction of the characters, to the point that I felt like I was reading about real people dealing with real issues. There was also an incredible sense of time and place, which, combined with the well-developed characters and he beautiful, descriptive writing, made this a truly immersive reading experience. This book also hit the mark on an emotional level, as various parts of the story made me simultaneously sad, angry, heartbroken, yet also hopeful, especially during those moments when certain characters stood up to the hatred and bigotry that permeated particular sections of the community. The ending was gut wrenching and unexpected— it actually took me by surprise and made me shed real tears (which doesn’t happen often).

As I mentioned earlier, Wiley Cash is now on my list of favorite authors and I am definitely looking forward to exploring his backlist! If you’re looking for a powerful, timely story that has a elements of historical fiction, family saga, murder mystery, exploration of various community and social justice issues, etc., this is a perfect read — one I absolutely recommend!

Received ARc from William a Morrow via NetGalley

5 Southern Stars

Wiley Cash is a stellar storyteller and he creates memorable characters. This is perfect Southern atmospheric fiction, with a mystery thrown in. This is the fourth book of his that I’ve read, and he is a must-read writer for me.

We meet humble Sheriff Winston Barnes in the week before an election that he’s sure he will lose. He’s going to be replaced by a man who has grown up in the area and who is now trying to create a real estate empire. This man is corrupt and a racist, so it was hard to realize this good man is going to lose his job to an unworthy successor.

Sheriff Barnes and his wife are awakened by the sound of a low flying airplane that kicks off the mystery of the book. Winston discovers an abandoned cargo plane and a dead black man on the runway. No fingerprints are found in the cockpit, but it’s clear some cargo was taken away.

There’s so much more than this mystery going on. Winston’s wife is sick, and their adult daughter soon arrives home from Texas after suffering a horrible loss. The presence of the black man on the runway causes racial tension to grow in the town, some associating the murder with drugs.

As the story progresses and the mystery grows, Wiley Cash’s writing does an amazing job of placing us on Oak Island, North Carolina in the mid-1980s. As things come to a powerful ending, I experience a sense of relief only to be shaken by the very end of the book. Cash has created a remarkable character in Winston Barnes, and he seemed so real to me! I also enjoyed the perspective of Winston’s daughter Colleen and her recollections of growing up on Oak Island, especially her relationship with her father, and trying to deal with her grief.

This one met all my expectations and I would highly recommend it.

WHEN GHOSTS COME HOME is a book I picked up on recommendation from @wacoreads and I am so glad I did! It’s set in rural North Carolina in 1984 when Winston, the county sheriff, discovers in the middle of the night a crashed plane with a dead body next to it. The pressure Winston is facing is already high because he is up for re-election in a race against a corrupt businessman. Racial tensions in this small town really come to a head as Winston begins his investigation, all while hosting his adult daughter Colleen who has come home with personal struggles of her own. This story is a well-crafted mystery that I didn’t want to put down, but @wileycashauthor really gives depth to his characters as they face their grief and anger as well as their internal struggles in coming to terms with what’s right. I loved the setting and felt deeply for these characters. I can’t wait to go back and read some of his backlist!

Wiley Cash’s newest novel tells the story of the humming underbelly of small-town racial tension, and the rippling effects it has on ignored crime, dirty politics, and decades of silence that can occur when we remain grappling with what remains unsaid in rural southern communities. While the novel takes place decades ago, the core themes of When Ghosts Come Home are a reminder that serves as a clarion call for us all to realize that things can remain festering well into the twenty-first century when good men do nothing.

The novel follows Sheriff Winston Barnes who is awoken to a bizarre murder tied to a small aircraft accident in his sleepy community. Barnes is barely holding on to his seat as county sheriff, facing down a violent, racist, narcissistic opponent who will stop at nothing to take Barnes down and lay claim to money and development rights that will secure his future as the manliest white man in town. When racial tensions begin to boil over connected to the motive and the circumstances surrounding the crime, and Barnes’ daughter returns home from Texas after a debilitating loss that has upended her life and her marriage, Barnes begins to make some of the hardest choices of his life to keep his family and community from spiraling apart – and as many of the community’s Korean and Vietnam veterans have suggested, stop what may turn into an all-out war at home.

Wiley Cash is a master storyteller. His characters and mastery over the structure and suspense of his stories is in full bloom in When Ghosts Come Home. This is a compelling read, with real world consequences that are unmistakably mirrored in our divisive modern political climate. Cash brings us into the fabric of his story with an atmosphere and engagement that is nothing less than electric, making it a fast read with heavy thematic resonance that affects us all. Simply put, Cash’s new book is a masterpiece of crime fiction and of immense heart.

When Ghosts Come Home comes out today from William Morrow.

I got an early copy of this new book by Wiley Cash and I really liked it! When Ghosts Come Home is a literary mystery with strong characters at the center. It takes place in a small North Carolina coastal town in the early 80’s and touches on so many subjects including racial tension, heartbreaking grief, family dynamics and more. There’s a lot going on in this novel but it’s so well done. I recommend this one if you like William Kent Krueger’s books and Where The Crawdads Sing.

Here’s the set-up:
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. 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 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.

“When Ghosts Come Home,” by Wiley Cash, William Morrow, 304 pages, Sept. 21, 2021.

It is October 30, 1984 in North Carolina, and Sheriff Winston Barnes and his wife, Marie, are awakened by the noise of a low-flying airplane. The county has only a small airport.

Winston goes to the airfield and finds an empty cargo plane has crashed, apparently while making an emergency landing. The pilot is nowhere to be found, but Winston finds the body of a local man, Rodney Bellamy, 26, who has been shot.

Rodney and his wife, Janelle, are new parents. Janelle’s younger brother, Jay, got into trouble at home so he is currently living with Rodney, Janelle and their baby. Rodney’s father, Ed Bellamy, is one of the few Black teachers at the local school. The FBI is called in.

Winston knows his days as sheriff may be numbered. He expects to lose the upcoming election to his corrupt challenger, Bradley Frye. Marie, who has cancer, is upset that their daughter, Colleen, hasn’t returned their calls. Colleen and her husband, Scott, are mourning their stillborn son. Colleen unexpectedly shows up at her parents’ home.

While a mystery, “When Ghosts Come Home” also examines racial tensions and family relationships. The characters are well-written. While it starts off slowly, it picks up. The ending is shocking.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Goodreads Giveaway, Wiley Cash, and William Morrow publishers. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read When Ghosts Come Home of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am always pleased to read Wiley Cash - He is always a winner - and this was right up there with the best of the best. I am pleased to recommend this historical novel to friends and family.

It is October 30, 1984, and Sheriff Winston Barnes is responsible for policing the small coastal community of Oak Island in North Carolina, a job he cherishes and has held for the last 12 years, but might lose in the coming week's election. His opposition in the election is the racist son of a local realtor, a young man with too much money and not enough smarts to protect this community. But Brad Frye can afford billboards and TV ads and the spreading of untrue rumors about Winston. Some folks can't see past the pretty ads. Winston has a small but good staff for the most part, and a very busy home life - his wife Marie is facing a second bout with cancer, and his only child, Colleen, with her lawyer husband Scott are now residing in Dallas Texas, and recently their first baby was stillborn.

The crash landing of a very large airplane at their very small airport in the middle of the night begins a sequence of events that shatters the timeline of life for the Barnes family. By the time Winston gets to the airport, the plane, cocked around crossways on the runway, is empty and there are no fingerprints anywhere on the plane. The is a dead man nearby, a local black man who went to school with Colleen. Rodney Bellamy was a good man with a young wife, well employed, a new father, and the son of Colleen's favorite teacher at the local high school. Immediately everyone is whispering drugs. Brad is shouting it, and blaming it on the black community as a whole and Winston's lax hand on the community during his tenure as sheriff.

Winston is certain that Rodney was not involved in drugs, and when his wife reported him missing in the wee hours of the morning, she said they had been walking the floor with the baby most of the night, and Rodney had headed to the store for diapers. The airport and runway were visible from the parking lot of the grocery store, and Winston assumes Rodney saw the lights - saw the plane land and try to turn from the tree line. Rodney was the kind of man who would run out there to see if he could help. But Bradley Frye is stirring up unrest in the white community, and leading the redneck crowd into storming the black community, setting Oak Island life back 40 years.

Knowing nothing of this, Colleen chooses this time to come home from Dallas for a little TLC from her family. Tender loving care they have in abundance - and she is needed at home, Marie is frail and Winston is overworked. Seeing the seething racial unrest developing in the community breaks his heart. The problems of class strife, racial violence, grief, and loss of faith eat at his soul.

This book had me in tears several times and was an all-nighter. I simply couldn't put it down. These unforgettable characters are now 'friends'. This is a story that will bring you down and lift you again, higher than high.

When Ghosts Come Home is a character driven novel set in Oak Island, NC in 1984. When a plane crashes at the small airport in the middle of the night, Sheriff Winston Barnes heads to the scene. When he arrives the plane is empty and on its side and there is no one there, unless you count the dead body in the grass alongside the runway. Winston not only has a mystery on his hands, he is also trying to keep his job as sheriff. With the vote being held next week things aren’t looking good. Pitted against a corrupt young man only looking for power, Winston has high hopes that solving this case will help him win re-election. With a sick wife, a broken hearted daughter, a town that’s rife with racial tension and a gut punch of an ending, this book is Cash at his absolute best!

Wiley Cash’s When Ghosts Come Home is a captivating murder mystery/thriller set on Oak Island, North Carolina, and opening with Sheriff Winston Barnes and wife Marie awakened by the mysterious sounds of a loud, low-flying plane. Knowing no flights land or take off from the community’s small airport at such an hour, Barnes leaves to investigate and discovers a large, empty World War II era plane and the corpse of a young black man, Rodney Bellamy--the son of a former civil rights activist and current high school teacher. Where was the crew? Why had all the seats been removed? What had the plane been carrying? Why had caused Rodney Bellamy to be at the airport at such a strange hour?

The mystery alone would have made a good story, but Cash’s characters become complex. The aging Sheriff is running for reelection and cannot afford to look incompetent a week before the community decides between him and the much younger real estate developer opposing him. The sheriff’s wife Marie is dealing with cancer, and loss of his job will mean lost health insurance. Now the FBI has been called in without Barnes’ instructions. Unknown to Winston and Marie, their daughter Colleen, a former classmate of the murdered man, has secretively left her husband in the middle of the night and is on her way home, still trying to cope with the recent loss of her stillborn son. Rodney Bellamy’s wife is now alone with an infant and a troubled younger brother sent to live with her after getting into trouble in Atlanta.

Cash’s plot keeps the reader turning pages. His complex characters come to life as believable human beings. His remote North Carolina setting contributes to the credibility.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow/Custom House for an advance reader copy of this highly recommended new novel.

Reading books set in some of my favorite places just adds to the reading experience, so I was glad to see Wiley Cash’s newest book was set in North Carolina. This is my first book by Cash, but I have another one loaded on my kindle waiting in the TBR list.

This story revolves around Sheriff Winston Barnes and his upcoming re-election. Unfortunately, some bigger issues come up when a local man is murdered at the scene of a plane crash late one night. To add to the mystery, the plane is empty, no pilots or passengers, and no fingerprints left behind.

In the midst of Sheriff Barnes’ investigation, his only daughter flies home to deal with her grief over losing her first child. Having Colleen home is a bit of a distraction, but also a bit of help for Sheriff Barnes and his wife.

Sheriff Barnes is also not thrilled that the FBI steps in even before he really gets his investigation underway. An FBI pilot is flown in to repair the plane and fly it to another airport for further investigation. The pilot, oddly enough, has to stay at the Barnes home while he repairs the plane.

This story has themes of loss, racial tension and small town politics throughout, with an unsettling twist at the end. My book club is reading this soon and I can’t wait to discuss some of these themes and the ending with them.

I highly recommend this to readers. It was an engaging story that moved along quickly and kept my interest.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow & Custom House for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Well Wiley has definitely done it again. This time it is a murder mystery with drug running and racial tensions set in 1984 North Carolina. The character development was very good and the ending was awesome. I would definitely recommend you pick your copy up which releases tomorrow 9/20/21. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this drc available through netgalley.

When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash is a highly recommended character driven murder mystery set in 1984.

In the middle of the night Sheriff Winston Barnes and his wife Marie are awaken by the sound of a low-flying plane and immediately know something is amiss. Nothing should be landing at the small airport on Oak Island, N.C., so Winston heads over to investigate. What he finds is a large plane has crash landed, the cargo hold is empty, and there is the dead body of a local man on the grass near the landing strip. The dead man, Rodney Bellamy, is the son of a local civil rights activist and math teacher and attended school with Winston's daughter, Colleen. Winston starts the investigation before the FBI steps in and Bradley Frye, the rich-boy developer who is Winston's opponent in the upcoming reelection race in a week, shows up to make his presence known.

To further complicate life, Colleen secretly leaves her husband and comes home to visit her parents. She recently lost their first child at birth and is still grieving. His wife Marie is battling cancer. Frye and his buddies show up flying a confederate flag from their truck to threaten and intimidate Bellamy's widow and Jay, her 14 year-old brother who is staying with her. And rumors are flying around that the plane may have been flown by drug smugglers.

The characters are finely drawn, complex, and realistic in their actions and feelings. The narrative is told through the viewpoints of Winston, Colleen, and Jay. All three are very sympathetic characters who are ordinary people struggling with their own challenging circumstances and have very specific individual thoughts and experiences that closely affect their actions. While the murder investigation involves the plane and who shot Rodney, the real focus is the inner lives and thoughts of these characters. Frye is an anomaly as he is depicted as more of a caricature than a realistic antagonist.

The investigation is almost a side-story to the development of the characters, their inner thoughts, and their interactions with each other and the community. While the plot is compelling, the real pull of this novel is the realistic characters and their personal thoughts and struggles during this particular time period and in their specific circumstances. There is a solution to the mystery, and, although there are holes in the plot, many of the internal struggles of the characters do reach some sort of conclusion. The final denouement is unexpected and shocking. 4.5

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

I'm giving this book 4 stars because the storytelling is so exquisite and I could not put it down. But even though it is a great murder mystery, I don't feel like the story was actually finished at the end. There were too many questions left unanswered and I am left unsatisfied. I haven't heard if this is possibly the first of a series, but I really hope so as the rest of the story demands to be told.

I wasn’t expecting a murder mystery thriller from Wiley Cash but this is definitely all of those things. It's also about grief, race, family, and community. It read like a fresh John Grisham book with substance.