Coal County Revised

Ten years on Detroit's gang enforcement unit was long enough for Detective Landry Coulter. When he added up the numbers on his spreadsheet, the detective found that his squad had made more than eight thousand arrests. That meant he had a lot of enemies. And what difference had it all made? Was the city that he called home, a better place because of the war on crime? And now, his girlfriend Gloria Rainley was threatening to move in with her mother and out of his life unless they moved out of the dirt and grime of the dying city. Their chance for a new life came when the sheriff of Coal County died of old age. Coulter got the job and he and Gloria moved into a comfortable middle-class home in the county seat of Coalton in the southern Appalachian Mountains. The new sheriff hired his girlfriend as dispatcher and they had all they needed to start a new life. At first, everything was perfect. Almost no paper-work to deal with, no mandatory overtime, no more long hours arresting drug pushers, muggers and burglars. And there was plenty of clean mountain air; a morning jog along the Tanasi River, an evening yoga class after work; it was a welcome change. It didn't take long for the small-town sheen to wear off. Underneath the calm surface, the sheriff found the same old characters: hookers, addicts, alcoholics, arsonists, murderers and homeless vagrants, just like Detroit. Plus there was a hurricane and a big flood; a war between coal miners and management, disasters man-made and natural, taxing all the skills Coulter brought with him from the big city. To put a the lid on it, Sheriff Coulter joined forces with the International Coal Company, Inc, Larry Miller, CEO. Plagued by labor unrest, declining productivity and environmental restrictions, Miller gave as good as he got. While Miller took care of the front office, his miners, driven by necessity and primal courage, carve coal out of the ancient mountains with space-age machinery. Welcome to Coal County. And leave the kids at home with the grandparents. The author lives in Littleton, Colorado with his wife Ivy. Cover art by Bika Tsaava.