About this item
The latest installment in Alex Bledsoe's critically-acclaimed Tufa series that Kirkus Reviews calls "powerful, character-driven drama...a sheer delight." (starred review) When Matt Johanssen, a young New York actor, auditions for "Chapel of Ease," an off-Broadway musical, he is instantly charmed by Ray Parrish, the show's writer and composer. They soon become friends; Matt learns that Ray's people call themselves the Tufa and that the musical is based on the history of his isolated home town. But there is one question in the show's script that Ray refuses to answer: what is buried in the ruins of the chapel of ease?As opening night approaches, strange things begin to happen. A dreadlocked girl follows Ray and spies on him. At the press preview, a strange Tufa woman warns him to stop the show. Then, as the rave reviews arrive, Ray dies in his sleep.Matt and the cast are distraught, but there's no question of shutting down: the run quickly sells out. They postpone opening night for a week and Matt volunteers to take Ray's ashes back to Needsville. He also hopes, while he's there, to find out more of the real story behind the play and discover the secret that Ray took to his grave.Matt's journey into the haunting Appalachian mountains of Cloud County sets him on a dangerous path, where some secrets deserve to stay buried.
About the Author
I grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland (home of Elvis) and twenty minutes from Nutbush (birthplace of Tina Turner) . I've been a reporter, editor, photographer and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I now live in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls, write before six in the morning and try to teach my three kids to act like they've been to town before. I'm the author of the Eddie LaCrosse high fantasy/hardboiled mysteries ("The Sword-Edged Blonde," "Burn Me Deadly," "Dark Jenny," "Wake of the Bloody Angel" and "He Drank, and Saw the Spider") , two novels about vampires in 1975 Memphis ("Blood Groove" and "The Girls with Games of Blood") , the Tufa novels ("The Hum and the Shiver," "Wisp of a Thing," and the upcoming "Long Black Curl") and the "Firefly Witch" short story ebook chapbooks.
