Winner of a 2019 IPPY Award for best regional fiction. Ellen King Rice delivers an unconventional thriller – a story of suspense, mushrooms, alternative economies and dark forest dwellers.

Retired botanist Dr. Oh rejoices when he finds an enormous specimen of a rare shelf fungus, a species nicknamed the “Fuzzy Sandozi.” Dr. Oh’s joy is mitigated as there is a dead body lying next to the magnificent polypore. His granddaughter, Jasmine, insists they report the body, despite Dr. Oh’s reluctance to reveal the location of the rare fungus.

Just a few miles away, twenty-year-old Elspeth Dwerryhouse has mushrooming problems of her own as she works four jobs, including pet-sitting, in the exhausting gig economy. Her job selling emergency prep supplies brings her to the attention of a backwoods family, the Fickhams.

The Fickham men are cunning and dangerous. None more so than seventy-year-old Russell, who is a master of rape, intimidation and body disposal. Russell wants Jasmine and Elspeth “tenderized” in a dark shed filled with an ancient mattress and a swath of glowing mushrooms. Escape seems impossible.

Readers praise this book!

”As compelling and hard to set aside as a box of the best chocolates.”

”. . .information punctuates a very readable and enjoyable story

”The tapestry of the plot, characters and setting is rich and pleasing.”