Pete Dexter Book order

Set against the backdrop of the 1970s and '80s, the collection showcases Pete Dexter's incisive newspaper columns that capture the essence of the American experience during a tumultuous era. Blending dark humor with poignant observations, Dexter addresses themes of violence and hypocrisy while also celebrating the lighter moments of family life and unique encounters. Compiled by Rob Fleder, this anthology features eighty-two of Dexter's most compelling pieces, offering a mix of heartbreak and humor that resonates deeply with readers.

The sun was rising over Moat County, Florida, when Sheriff Thurmond Call was found on the highway, gutted like an alligator. A local redneck was tried, sentenced, and set to fry.Then Ward James, hotshot investigative reporter for the Miami Times, returns to his rural hometown with a death row femme fatale who promises him the story of the decade.  She's armed with explosive evidence, aiming to free--and meet--her convicted "fiancé."With Ward's disillusioned younger brother Jack as their driver, they barrel down Florida's back roads and seamy places in search of The Story, racing flat out into a shocking head-on collision between character and fate as truth takes a back seat to headline news...

Losing his father shortly after birth, Warren Spooner endures a troubled childhood and even more troubled young adulthood that is marked by his dishonorably discharged stepfather, whose inexhaustible patience is tested by the difficult Warren. By the National Book Award-winning author of Paris Trout.

DEADWOOD, DAKOTA TERRITORIES, 1876: Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickcock and his friend Charlie Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace. Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepeneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane. Fueled by liquor, sex, and violence, this is the real wild west, unlike anything portrayed in the dime novels that first told its story.

Set in 1953 Los Angeles, the narrative unfolds at the exclusive Brookline Golf Club, where racial divides are stark. Lionel "Train" Walk, a talented Black caddy, becomes entwined in a dark mystery after a wealthy member is murdered and his wife, Norah, is assaulted. Detective Miller Packard, a regular at the club, finds himself drawn to Norah and takes Train under his wing. As Packard's involvement deepens, he faces the consequences of his choices, revealing the complexities of love, loyalty, and societal tensions.

Pete Dexter is an American original, a powerful novelist whose indelible characters and razor-sharp dialogue bring to life the darker side of the American national ethos. Brotherly Love is about two men born into the mob.

Paris Trout is a white storekeeper and moneylender in the sleepy little town of Cotton Point, Georgia. He is also an implacable bigot. A long time ago he studied law, but he is no respecter of it. One hot summer's day he invokes his own law, with devastating results. Some of the townspeople think Paris Trout a hero for what he did: others that the law should make him pay.

The narrative unfolds around a shocking crime that disrupts the lives of a small Southern community, revealing deep-seated hypocrisies. Through a compelling exploration of the characters and their responses to the event, the story delves into themes of morality, justice, and the fragility of human relationships, showcasing the profound impact of the crime on the town's dynamics. This National Book Award-winning work captures the complexities of life in the South with gripping intensity.

In this striking debut from the author of the National Book Award winner Paris Trout, Pete Dexter chronicles a murder and its consequences in the fictional blue-collar Philadelphia neighborhood of God’s Pocket.   Leon Hubbard makes other men nervous, talking to himself or anyone who will listen about the things he’s cut with his straight razor. So when he crosses the wrong guy on a South Philly construction site and winds up with his head caved in, everyone is content to bury the bad news with the body. Everyone, that is, except Leon’s mother—and a local newspaper columnist hoping the story will resurrect his career. Only a mother could love a man like Leon. But only an outsider could expect to change anything in God’s Pocket.