Well, I guess when one of the best wild blueberry patches in the Smoky Mountains has a name like “Graveyard Fields” some mystery writer will not be able to resist making up a story about it. I’ll still park at the place with the “Graveyard Fields” sign on the Blue Ridge Parkway on the slopes of Mt. Pisgah and fill my pail with blueberries every season I get a chance. But my job is not to tell you about blueberry picking –- I cannot write about any other picking place, because Graveyard Fields is the only one I know with enough blueberries that I don’t need to keep the secret. Rather, my job is to tell you about books, but blueberries is all I think about when I read the words, “Graveyard Fields.” So, I will let others tell you about this book: “Steven Tingle’s debut novel, Graveyard Fields, is a noteworthy, not to be missed, summer read. His flawed, but still likeable protagonist, Davis Reed, narrates and moves the story with wit and pedal to the metal.” —David Swinson. "Lovely North Carolina scenery, plenty of good beer and classic rock 'n roll, and a hell of a fun and clever mystery to follow, Graveyard Fields is right down my alley. If you don't have a blast reading this book, I really can't help you."—Ace Atkins. "Steven Tingle possesses a smooth and lyrical cadence that will keep you rolling through the pages of Graveyard Fields like a pick-up joyriding across the North Carolina landscape. This is a gripping read, both energetic and thoughtful, and will carry you deep into the night."—Michael Farris Smith. "Graveyard Fields starts with a bang then reels you into its foggy aftermath: the day-to-day ennui of Davis Reed, a Xanax-numbed ex-PI-turned-aspiring-writer-in-hiding. Reed’s self-deprecating humor, eviscerating descriptions, and punchy jabs of dialogue are so quotable they may as well be trademarked. When Reed’s small, nagging fixations finally catapult readers into a surreal, hilarious crime novel, the result seizes the breath between wheezes of laughter. Graveyard Fields is a smart, redemptive, and cackle-provoking debut."—Chris Harding Thornton. The author is a Western North Carolina native who started in the hospitality business and then became a journalist on the hospitality beat, and now is a novelist.
New York: Crooked Lane Books, 2021. 278 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.