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“A masterly storyteller, Pruitt pulls the reader into a world that zings with authenticity and life. A sterling collection.”
―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Pruitt combines the characters you would find populating the works of Tom Franklin and Cormac McCarthy with the situations and sensibilities of a rural Charles Bukowski...the stories you find in TOWNIES are as real as they can get.” ―Bookreporter

A collection of riveting, funny, and captivating southern fried crime stories from Anthony Award nominee Eryk Pruitt, one of the best new crime fiction writers working today. Townies, and Other Tales of Southern Mischief collects, for the first time, Pruitt's short fiction in a single volume.

The title story, "Townies," details what really happened one night, after hours, in a once popular East Texas sports bar, and the sinister revenge that would soon follow.

"Knacker," the story of a Texan who finds himself homeless in Dublin, Ireland, and willing to sacrifice damn near anything to scratch together what remaining pride he may have lost.

"Let's Be Awful" tells the story of a cocktail waitress who decides that, after a horrid round of revenge porn, her days of playing the victim have past.

In "A Lot Prettier (When You Smile)," we are introduced to a woman who can wrap any man around her finger and decides to put that powerful skill to use one last time.

When a black sheep son comes home to his sick momma's deathbed in "The Only Hell My Momma Ever Raised," he discovers long lost family secrets, as well as how he can use his own set of skills to give her a proper send off.

When Old Man McCarthy turns up dead in the bottoms of "Blood Holler," a cursory investigation turns up an unlikely suspect, which barely scratches the surface of the true implications of the brutal crime.

These and other stories will have you turning the pages to read more of one of the most unique voices in southern fiction.