Book Recommendation: Dead Man Blues by S. D. House
Dead Man Blues (October 14, 2025, Crooked Lane Books) is the new novel by Kentucky author S. D. House, the pen name for Silas House. This is a good selection for your reading list. Click on the link to reach the website to learn more about the author and his books.
Two grisly murders. A disgraced former mayor. A tranquil town on the verge.
This gripping historical crime novel set in the South pulls the past into the present, perfect for fans of Attica Locke and Wiley Cash.
Dave Hendricks was once a respected man in Shady Grove, a tiny town on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. But after his wife leaves him for his best friend, he also loses his job, and his reputation is left in shambles. With nothing but his houseboat and his dog left, he’s working odd jobs and listening to the blues. But when murder strikes their peaceful town, Dave finds himself compelled to team up with Sheriff Victor Burns, the man who betrayed him and took his wife, to find the killer.
Two bodies are found on Cedar Lake, and both murders strike fear in the tight-knit community. Old friends and foes are drawn back into Hendricks’ life in the investigation, and he’s forced to finally come to terms with what is and what was—or see justice die in the process.
Powerful and intriguing at every turn, Dead Man Blues asserts S. D. House as a knife-sharp voice in the crime genre. Penguin Random House
Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels (Clay's Quilt [2001], A Parchment of Leaves [2003], The Coal Tattoo [2005], Eli the Good [2009], Same Sun Here [2012], Southernmost [2018] and Lark Ascending [2022], which was a Booklist Editors' Choice and is the winner of the 2023 Southern Book Prize and the 2023 Nautilus Book Award. Four of his plays have been produced. He is also the author of the 2009 book of creative nonfiction Something's Rising (with co-author Jason Kyle Howard).In 2025 he will release two books: a poetry collection called All These Ghosts (September 9) and--under a slight pseudonym--a murder-mystery called Dead Man Blues (October 14).
In 2023 he was inducted as the Poet Laureate of Kentucky for 2023-2025 and became a Grammy finalist. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Duggins Prize, the largest award for an LGBTQ writer in the nation. The same year he was named Appalachian of the Year in a nationwide poll.
House's writing has appeared recently in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, Garden & Gun, The New York Times, The Bitter Southerner, and many more of the country's leading publications. House is a former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered" and is the executive producer and one of the subjects of the documentary Hillbilly, winner of the LA Film Festival's Documentary Prize and the Foreign Press Association's Media Award; the film ran on Hulu, where it was seen by millions of viewers, and is now available to stream on all platforms. His 2018 novel Southernmost is currently in pre-production as a feature film. In 2023 he served as writer, co-producer, and creative director of the Tyler Childers video "In Your Love", earning nominations from the Grammys, the Academy of Country Music, an MTV Video Award, and the Country Music Television Awards, as well as becoming a #1 video on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
As a music journalist, House has worked with Jason Isbell, Kacey Musgraves, Lucinda Williams, Tyler Childers, S.G. Goodman, Lee Ann Womack, Kris Kristofferson, S.G. Goodman, and many other musicians. He is the member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, the recipient of three honorary degrees, and has been given such honors as an E. B. White Award, the Storylines Prize from the New York Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Lee Smith Award, the Caritas Medal, the Hobson Medal, and many others. In 2015 he was invited to read at the Library of Congress.
House teaches at Berea College, where he is the National Endowment for the Humanities Chair, and at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Creative Writing. In 2023 he served as one of five judges of the National Book Award in Fiction. A native of Eastern Kentucky, he now lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
Author photo by Kevin Nance.
Dahlia, Kentlands Photowalk, Gaithersburg, Maryland USA IMG 5075
Canon PowerShot G11 Camera, f/4.5, 1/160 sec., ISO-160, 30 mm, No Flash
Photograph by Roy Kelley
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs
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