Posse Whipped!
Just get your mind out of the gutter! I know you. This is my first novel and I wanted the title to be something…special. I’ve written dozens and dozens of short stories, probably just as many magazine articles for sports magazines, and even a collection or two that I either co-wrote or just created my own. But this is the first cover-to-cover novel by Paul K. Metheney. And you saw it here first!
Posse Whipped is the story of a Southern sheriff who struggles to save his town from corruption, drug trafficking, moonshiners, and the economy, all while protecting his most valuable law-enforcement assets… his family and friends. (You thought I was going to say his gun, right?) As the sheriff protects his town and family, a villain from his family’s past assembles his own eclectic posse of criminals to destroy Sheriff MacDowell and everything he holds dear.
This is a down-home journey into the hills of Kentucky that brings you a sometimes humorous novel set in a modern-day western fight for survival, justice, and family. The spirit of the Wild West meets the 21st Century in an adventure for the John Wayne in us all.
This is where I normally get to write this third-person, really cool-sounding bio about me, but maybe I’ll just tell the truth.
I come from a long line of hillbillies. There’s no use in denying it. It took me the better part of my first 18 years to lose the twang in my voice. I still break out in cold sweats every time I let a “ya’ll” slip out. But you can take the boy out of the holler, but you cain’t take the holler out of the boy. (Did you see what I did there?) Hillbillies are like any other people. There are some good ones and some bad ones and you can’t tell the difference by the twang in their voice. Just because they drop their G’s at the end of words doesn’t mean they’re stupid. You can, however, note the difference when you are in trouble. The good ones will have your back every time.
Why did I pick Kentucky instead of West Virginia, where both sides of my family come from? Because someone there would recognize the names and stories I used and go “AHA!” So, Kentucky it was. I recently spent a bit of time in Kentucky and researched the heck out of a few small towns there to get a feel for backwoods life. I can honestly say that I didn’t model any of my characters, situations, or areas on any given person, place, or action. I can say that Sheriff MacDowell uses a lot of my (sort-of) adopted dad’s one-liners. What can I say? Even rednecks get to be funny. Ask Jeff Foxworthy. I will also say my late brother, Dick Metheney, started writing and I designed some covers for him and it got me thinking that drawing pictures in peoples’ heads might be easier than drawing pictures for them to interpret. So, if you don’t like the book, blame him.
I’m not worried. You’re going to like it. Well, that’s what my wife says anyway.
“If you like Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire Mysteries, you will LOVE Posse Whipped.”
“All of C.J. Box’s action, but with Metheney’s humor and wit.”
(Posse Whipped is now on sale and I’m not saying it would make a good Christmas gift, but if you order 20, I’ll cut you a break in price!)