Book excerpt: This story takes place in the Prohibition-era Ozarks. Our introduction to Willie Henderson happens on a train taking him home, at long last, after a one-year stint in prison where he served time for illegally bootlegging and producing the area's finest moonshine. Upon his arrival back into Stone County, he is met by Sheriff Michael Baker, the county's new lawman who has a penchant for dismantling Stone County's storied illegal moonshining industry. Willie arrives home to find his wife, Mabel, lying in bed, sickly, with her and her young son unable to have afforded her needed medicine. With Mabel's health rapidly declining and Willie's breadth of knowledge and talent in shining, Willie is soon left with only one option-to return to his old bootlegging ways. In this highly suspenseful cat-and-mouse Southern thriller, we are taken through a series of chess moves between Willie and his nemesis, Sheriff Michael Baker. Who will outsmart the other? And who will inevitably come out on top?