The year is 1990, and the small town of Marble City is facing some big changes. Located in the region of Missouri affectionately known as Little Dixie, residents have become uneasy about the growing tourist population within the area-due in part to a newly constructed recreational lake and casino.
The locals' concerns are magnified by a climbing crime rate and escalating rumors of a sports scandal-and to make matters worse, a horrifying murder has shaken the small town to its core. It's now up to Sheriff Mulholland and investigative journalist Vicki Stillen to determine who is responsible for the violence.
Gripping and suspenseful from beginning to end, Death in Little Dixie takes an honest look at the issues faced by rapidly-changing towns in rural America, and makes this setting a backdrop for a thrilling murder mystery. From racism and prejudice to the struggles of young adults confronting a major trauma, the town of Marble City comes to life in a manner that is deeply emotional, sometimes disturbing, and always realistic.
About the Author:
John R. Henderson is an author and retired sociology professor living in Flagstaff, Arizona. He and his wife, Cheryl, have four adult children and six grandchildren.
He is a graduate of William Jewell College and Arizona State University, where he earned an AB in sociology and a master of arts in education. He completed further graduate work in urban studies at State University of New York in Brockport. For a total of thirty-eight years, he taught subjects including family studies, rural-urban studies, and sociology of education. He was elected faculty senate president on two college campuses and served as chairperson of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Division at Scottsdale Community College.
His experience in sociology inspired his nonfiction classroom memoir, Attachments: To Those Who Can, and his two novels: Silence Is the Killer, about the subject of suicide, and Death in Little Dixie, a mystery involving the urbanization of a small rural town.
His experience in sociology has inspired his nonfiction memoir, Attachments: To Those Who Can, and his two novels: Silence is the Killer, about the subject of suicide, and Death in Little Dixie, a mystery involving the urbanization of a small rural town.