What You Leave Behind by Wanda M. Morris

What You Leave Behind

A Novel

Wanda M. Morris, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Lynnette R. Freeman

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · June 18, 2024

Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller following a lawyer who after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister just months before, uncovers a conspiracy that dates back to Reconstruction and persists in half the United States today.

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Who it’s for
A tense, layered read that balances family drama, history, and the pull of a thriller.
Genres
Black Mystery, Legal Thrillers, Southern Fiction
Published
HarperCollins, June 18, 2024

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About this book

Award-winning author Wanda Morris returns with a powerful, haunting thriller following a lawyer who after the mysterious disappearance of a local landowner and the death of his sister just months before, uncovers a conspiracy that dates back to Reconstruction and persists in half the United States today. Deena Wood’s life has fallen apart in the aftermath of losing her beloved mother, her marriage, and her prestigious job at an Atlanta law firm.

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She needs what the Geechee people of coastal Georgia call a “dayclean,” a fresh start. She returns to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia, to heal. But her return is anything but the respite she thought it might be. To make peace with all her loss, she often drives through the city. One day, she unwittingly finds herself on the oceanfront property of a loner widower who is fighting to keep land that has been in his family since the end of the Civil War. He threatens her and warns her to never return. But shortly after, he disappears, and his very expensive property is quickly put up for sale. Curious about what has happened to the man, Deena digs into his disappearance and finds a family legacy at risk. What starts out as a bit of curious snooping, turns into a deadly game of illegal land grabs and property redevelopment in poor and rural communities with dark and powerful forces at work. Without realizing it, Deena finds herself caught up in a nightmarish scheme that threatens her community and her family. She’ll need help and finds it in a close but unlikely source because she knows she must do whatever it takes to stop the sinister forces at play before she becomes their next target.

Tense and Layered

A tense, layered read that balances family drama, history, and the pull of a thriller.

Come here for

  • serious, immersive storytelling
  • thriller tension with historical weight

Expect

  • a sustained narrative pace
  • prestige-leaning, emotionally charged atmosphere

Where it sits

Black Mystery60%
Southern Fiction24%
Legal Thrillers19%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Women Detectives
  • Suspense
  • Crime Fiction
  • Legal Thrillers
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Political Thrillers
  • Women's Fiction
  • Black Women's Fiction
  • Black Mystery
Authors
Wanda M. Morris, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Lynnette R. Freeman
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
June 18, 2024
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Women Detectives