Raincrow

The raincrows' warning rode upon a chill wind down the Kentucky mountainside to Katelin Stone that Indian Summer day. The rain would come, and her world as she knew it would end. There would be a new beginning for her.

Her mother's death sets into motion the events that become her hell. Her father's surprise marriage brings into their home a calculating and money-grabbing woman and her troubled teenage son, who terrorizes Katelin with vicious attacks and cold-bloodied threats that force her to forsake Walter, her true love, and at sixteen to marry a man she hardly knows.

Her abusive marriage becomes her prison. She secrets her dreams and her love for Walter in a broken heart and almost loses herself after the consecutive deaths of her twin babies. Nurtured by loving friends, she finds renewed strength to escape her marriage and fulfill the promise made to her dying mother. But will she have the strength to overcome the paralyzing fear that keeps her from Walter's arms?


"Southern fiction of often described as having a powerful sense of place. Acclaimed author and North Carolina's past Poet Laureate Fred Chappell defined Southern fiction as having eight elements: A deep involvement in place; family bonds; a celebration of eccentricity; a strong narrative voice; themes of racial guilt, human endurance, and local tradition; a sense of impending loss; a pervasive sense of humor in the face of tragedy; and an inability to leave the past behind. With precision and authenticity, JB Hamilton Queen and Louie Dillon cover all that ground in their first novel, Raincrow."

- Madonna Dries Christensen- Author of Swinging Sisters and Masquerade; The Swindler Who Conned J. Edgar Hoover


"Their writing is professional and inventive. Collaborative imagination is rare, but they pull it off."

- Stuart M. Kaminsky-Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Edgar winner, and author of more than fifty mystery novels.


"A compelling southern sage, beautifully written and masterfully interwoven with deeply human displays of passionate loves and tragic losses."

- Patricia Gussin- Author, The Test


"Raincrow resonates with the rhythm and accent of Appalachia, a wonderful tale of sin and salvation, lost and fulfilled dreams."

- Diane Madsen- Author, A Cadger's Curse and Hunting for Hemingway- Midnight Ink