The stills /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

With compassion and insight, Jess Montgomery weaves a gripping mystery and portrait of community in The Stills , the powerful third novel in the Kinship series.

Ohio, 1927: Moonshining is a way of life in rural Bronwyn County, and even the otherwise upstanding Sheriff Lily Ross has been known to turn a blind eye when it comes to stills in the area. But when thirteen-year-old Zebediah Harkins almost dies after drinking tainted moonshine, Lily knows that someone has gone too far, and--with the help of organizer and moonshiner Marvena Whitcomb--is determined to find out who.

But then, Lily's nemesis, the businessman George Vogel, reappears in town with his new wife, Fiona. Along with them is also her former brother-in-law Luther Ross, now an agent for the newly formed Bureau of Prohibition. To Lily, it seems too much of a coincidence that they should arrive now.

As fall turns to winter, a blizzard closes in. Lily starts to peel back the layers of deception shrouding the town of Kinship, but soon she discovers that many around her seem to be betraying those they hold dear--and that Fiona too may have an agenda of her own.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Bronwyn County, OH, may be studded with illegal stills (it's 1927), but when 13-year-old Jebediah Ranklin nearly dies from drinking tainted moonshine, the usually tolerant Sheriff Lily Ross seeks the culprit--with the help of moonshiner Marvena Whitcomb. Third in a series; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Publishers Weekly Review

When a 12-year-old boy, who's been hired to supervise a moonshiner's still, witnesses a man shoot and injure a Bureau of Prohibition agent at the start of Montgomery's provocative, if flawed, third novel set in 1920s Kinship, Ohio (after 2020's The Hollows), Sheriff Lily Ross investigates. Meanwhile, Fiona Vogel returns to her aunt and uncle's farm in Kinship with her powerful bootlegger husband, George, and several of his yes-men, including Lily's estranged brother-in-law, Luther Ross. To Lily's surprise, Luther visits her office and presents himself as a Prohibition agent. While Lily questions Luther's true motives, Luther warns her of George's potential plans to bring his bootlegging business to the farm. Though Lily can't raid the farm due to a lack of evidence, Fiona sends her a tip that George's alcohol could have been swapped with toxic wood alcohol. When Luther's badly beaten body is found with a snakebite wound and the coroner insists the snakebite killed Luther, Lily senses that something doesn't add up. Richly fleshed-out characters compensate only in part for a surfeit of repetitive backstory. Fans of historical mysteries featuring strong female leads may be satisfied. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group. (Mar.)

Booklist Review

Bronwyn County, Ohio, 1927: when a few sips of moonshine leave young Jeb Rankline comatose, Sheriff Lily Ross is shocked to learn the shine came from the still of her close friend Marvena Whitcomb. Despite her friendship with Marvena, Lilly must discover how the boy was poisoned, especially now that the feds are pushing Prohibition enforcement. Lily discovers unlikely coincidences: Luther Ross (the former mine owner responsible for her husband's death) has slunk back into town, and somewhere in her county, a missing revenue agent could be in grave danger. Luther, it turns out, is helping ruthless businessman George Vogel turn his wife's family farm into a distribution center for a tonic he's peddling. When Vogel's wife, Fiona, every bit the survivor, learns that Vogel's business plan includes murder, she unleashes a campaign of manipulations to keep herself and her unborn baby safe. Like Sharyn McCrumb's and Julia Keller's thrillers, this third Lily Ross tale (following The Hollows, 2020) is a fine example of Appalachian storytelling, thoughtfully portraying characters at the intersections of kinship, poverty, power, and survival.

Kirkus Book Review

Montgomery continues her saga of strong Ohio women facing daunting obstacles. Kinship Sheriff Lily Ross first inherited her job from her murdered husband, then won a term on her own. Her bereavement led her to friendships with other strong women. Now that Prohibition is splitting the country, Lily's dismayed that her friend Marvena Whitcomb Sacovech has gone back to making moonshine in order to pay for medical help for her daughter, who's severely afflicted with asthma. Young Zebediah Harkin's glimpse of a revenuer being shot near Marvena's still is the first in a chain of events that will lead Lily back to the men who betrayed her husband. George Vogel, meanwhile, has a respectable business selling tonic, but he aims to make a fortune in illegal alcohol, and the road to success runs through the secluded farm of his wife Fiona's aunt. Fiona has come to hate her cruel husband, who has plenty of enemies and is constantly guarded by two old friends who despise her. Her pregnancy softens George just enough for her to plot a way to get her aunt's farm put in her name. Lily is forced to work with a revenue agent she doesn't trust, but she gets support from Benjamin Russo, an outside mining consultant who threatens to melt her heart. At length Fiona finds a way to work with Lily in hope of getting George arrested, and Lily works her way through past hurts and present problems to solve a thorny series of crimes. A beautifully written, finely crafted, character-based mystery that uses historical detail to enhance a powerful story. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

JESS MONTGOMERY writes a Writer's Digest magazine column, "Level Up Your Writing (Life)" and was formerly the "Literary Life" columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Based on early chapters of the first book in the Kinship Series, The Widows , Jess was awarded an Ohio Arts Council individual artist's grant for literary arts and named the John E. Nance Writer-in-Residence at Thurber House in Columbus. Jess lives in her native state of Ohio.