LIE ME DOWN AMONG THE COLD DARK PINES

A transgender teenager in the American South delves into a murder case in Maroney’s novel.

As the story opens, a trio of outcasts settles in a Southern town after inheriting the house of a recently deceased relative. They include Nancy, a single mother who works as a stripper to make ends meet; her 10-year-old son, Howell, who’s been developing a hustle as a boy preacher and tends to speak in scriptural quotations; and his 16-year-old sister, Hart, who’s the novel’s moral and emotional center. Maroney describes, with painful accuracy, the uncomfortable attention she constantly receives, whether it’s from boys at her high school or from strangers: “Hart felt the usual little twist in her guts that happened when men she didn’t know paid her compliments she wasn’t sure what to do with.” Then, one day, the family dog discovers a human hand, and soon Hart confronts the ghastly remains of a young woman’s corpse: “Without lips, the smile was as wide as a beauty queen’s. The eyes were gone, taken to the air by birds. The sockets seemed unnaturally large, dark holes surrounded by bright blue glitter that twinkled in the faint light.” The sheriff closed the case suspiciously quickly, so Hart begins to unravel a mystery that involves webcams, water contaminated by a local mining company, and meth labs. Hart’s eye is incisive and laser-sharp, as in a description of the protagonist’s peers at an environmental protest meeting: “Their teeth gave them away. Every time they opened their mouths, they displayed thousands of dollars’ worth of the best dentistry.” About halfway through the novel, readers learn that Hart is transgender, which is addressed with maturity, sensitivity, and power. As she gets closer to solving the murder mystery, Maroney dramatizes the layers of prejudice and discrimination in Southern society, particularly around gender, and how these affect the resolution of the case. The writing here is bold, combining suspenseful plot twists with social commentary, resulting in a noteworthy work of fiction that’s much more than simply a well-choreographed whodunit.

A notable mystery with a complex, believable, and insightful protagonist.