Set in Virginia in the 1980s, Tidewater Blood opens at the annual LeBlanc family celebration. Rich, pretentious, and proud, the LeBlancs operate a prosperous plantation and celebrate their heritage each year in grand old Southern fashion on the mansion's portico. But this year, the front of the mansion explodes and everyone on the portico is instantly killed. As the dust settles, all fingers point to embittered brother and ex-con Charles LeBlanc, who lives as a hermit outside town. When it seems he's going down on a murder rap, Charley flees to begin his own investigation. Charley must win the trust of one person after another--from his frat-boy lawyer to an old backwoods woman harboring a special hatred of the LeBlancs. Charley solves the crime moments before he faces imprisonment, but not before he learns long-hidden secrets about that illustrious LeBlanc blood. Crisp and cinematic, Tidewater Blood is a riveting and tightly constructed thriller. "A first rate, page-turning thriller." --George Garrett "Limpid and swift-moving, with a full complement of understated surprises: an exemplary presentation of the innocent man on the run for readers who want more texture then they can find in The Fugitive." --Kirkus Reviews "This is a gripping read." --Library Journal A MYSTERY GUILD SELECTION William Hoffman was born in West Virginia and, after living in Washington, D.C., and New York, returned to the South to live in Charlotte Court House, Virginia, population 566. He lives on a fifty-acre farm with his wife. Alternating between teaching at Hampton-Sydney College and taking leaves to write, William Hoffman has published ten novels, as well as three short story collections. His writing has won numerous awards over the years, including the Andrew Lytle Prize, the Goodheart Prize, the John Dos Passos Prize, and the Hillsdale Foundation Fiction Prize from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His short stories have been featured in Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, 1996

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