King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby ($28.99, 9781250832061, June 10, 2025).
When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father's car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family--and the family business--together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante's recklessness has placed them all in real danger.
Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he's forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his brother: himself, and his own particular set of skills.
Christine Kopprasch comments: "[S. A. Cosby] pitched the book to me before I read it. He said, 'I want to do a Black, Southern take on The Godfather.' I said, 'That's exactly what I want.' " The result is "a very violent, very gritty story. He uses family drama to push the crime story, but it's also a story about siblings. It's very cinematic, very tense, and I love the siblings in the book."
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S. A. Cosby |
Cosby is the author of five Southern noir crime novels and "a gorgeous writer and a really great guy," says Kopprasch. "Everybody who meets him falls in love with him. I also love his own story: his words have taken him from a childhood of poverty to now being a bestselling, award-winning author."
Cosby is pleased to have King of Ashes on the debut Pine & Cedar list. He says, "It is truly an honor to work with Christine. Her instincts as an editor are unmatched in the industry and I am incredibly fortunate to have her in my corner. I can't think of a more qualified or visionary person to lead this new endeavor and I couldn't be happier to have Pine & Cedar be the home for my work."