CHRIS OFFUTT chats to Paul Burke about THE KILLING HILLS, Kentucky, land and culture, spy fiction and photography.
THE KILLING HILLS: Mick Hardin, a combat veteran now working as an Army CID agent, is home on a leave that is almost done. His wife is about to give birth, but they aren't getting along. His sister, newly risen to sheriff, has just landed her first murder case, and local politicians are pushing for city police or the FBI to take the case. Are they convinced she can't handle it, or is there something else at work? She calls on Mick who, with his homicide investigation experience and familiarity with the terrain, is well suited to staying under the radar. As he delves into the investigation, he dodges his commanding officer's increasingly urgent calls while attempting to head off further murders. And he needs to talk to his wife. The Killing Hills is a novel of betrayal - sexual, personal, within and between the clans that populate the hollers - and the way it so often shades into violence. Chris Offutt has delivered a dark, witty, and absolutely compelling novel of murder and honour, with an investigator-hero unlike any in fiction.
CHRIS OFFUTT is the author of the short-story collections Kentucky Straight and Out of the Woods, the novels The Good Brother, Country Dark and The Killing Hills, and three memoirs: The Same River Twice, No Heroes, and My Father, the Pornographer. His work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays, among many other places. He has written screenplays for Weeds, True Blood, and Treme, and has received fellowships from the Lannan and Guggenheim foundations.
Recommendations
British TV:
The Sandbaggers, Callan & Y Gwyll
Books:
Melissa Ginsburg The House Uptown
Domenic Stansberry The Ancient Rain
William McIlvanney Laidlaw trilogy
Mick Herron, Jean-Claude Izzo, Walter Mosley, Chester Himes, John le Carré & Massimo Carlotto.
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Music courtesy of Southgate & Leigh
Crime Time
Paul Burke writes for NB magazine, Crime Fiction Lover, Crime Time and the European Literature Network. He also edits and presents the Crime Time FM podcast and is a book collector and lover of crime fiction.
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time
Crime Time FM is the official podcast of
Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival 2023
CrimeFest 2023
CWA Daggers 2023
& Newcastle Noir 2023
2024??