The Cutting Season: A Novel

Written by Attica Locke

Narrated by Quincy Tyler Bernstine

“The Cutting Season is a rare murder mystery with heft, a historical novel that thrills, a page-turner that makes you think. Attica Locke is a dazzling writer with a conscience.”
—Dolen Perkins-Valdez, New York Times bestselling author of Wench

Attica Locke’s breathtaking debut novel, Black Water Rising, won resounding acclaim from major publications coast-to-coast and from respected crime fiction masters like James Ellroy and George Pelecanos, earning this exciting new author comparisons to Dennis Lehane, Scott Turow, and Walter Mosley. Locke returns with The Cutting Season, a second novel easily as gripping and powerful as her first—a heart-pounding thriller that interweaves two murder mysteries, one on Belle Vie, a historic landmark in the middle of Lousiana’s Sugar Cane country, and one involving a slave gone missing more than one hundred years earlier. Black Water Rising was nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, an Edgar® Award, and an NAACP Image Award, and was short-listed for the Orange Prize in the U.K. The Cutting Season has been selected by bestselling author Dennis Lehane as the first pick for his new line of books at HarperCollins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9780062204950

Attica Locke

Attica Locke is the author of Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the UK’s Orange Prize, and also the national bestseller The Cutting Season, which won an Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. She is a producer and writer on the Fox drama Empire. She is on the board of directors for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, where she lives.

Reviews for The Cutting Season

[bdykes59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Suspense action emotions surprises love hate history determination unable to put it down

[arielfl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Caren Gray is the manager of the plantation Belle Vie. It is rather ironic that she is in charge of the property since a few generations back her ancestors were slaves in the field and had no choice in the matter. Now instead of providing food, the plantation entertains tourists and school groups as well as hosting weddings. Caren has done her best to convince herself that this is the life that she wants to lead even though she used to be in law school and was the partner in a loving relationship with the father of her daughter. All of that has slipped passed her and now her days consist of being a single mother to Morgan and trying to manage the wily cast of characters that make up the staff of the plantation not to mention it's eccentric owners who have known Caren since childhood. Life hums along for Caren until one day a young woman, one of the migrant farm workers from the farm next door, is found murdered on the Belle Vie property. The murder is tied to the disappearance of one Caren's slave ancestors. Although Caren has done a pretty good job of sticking her head in the ground to avoid unpleasant things in her life she will need to confront the past head on, both her recent past and the past history of her family.Caren is a lovely character and you can't help rooting for her even though she has made a mistake in her past where you can hardly believe that the level headed character you are presented with could have ever been that stupid. The story is a very interesting one but the pacing is very slow for a mystery/ thriller novel. Although the novel concept was a great one the execution of the story line had some problems putting in just under a four star read for me.

[whybehave2002 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was intense. Though it takes place today its mysteries are historical. The setting is Belle Vie, a historic landmark in the middle of Lousiana. The history of a sugar plantation and the slaves that lived and worked there. Get ready for 2 murders. One modern-day and one 100 years ago.

[sianpr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written crime story set on an ex plantation in Louisiana. The story is layered & complex themes regarding slavery, race & migration in modern day America emerge. Very good characterisation of protagonist & place is vividly conjured. Attica Locke is one to watch.

[busyreadin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very disappointing book. Premise was good, and has an interesting assortment of characters. Unfortunately, the book was dry and the characters were flat.

[susiesharp_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this southern mystery even though at times the story kind of slowed for me; it wasn’t an edge of your seat kind of mystery, but good none the less. However I am still not sure if I really liked our heroine Caren, it seemed like she had some problems with letting people get close to her including her own daughter, I never felt like theirs was a really close relationship even though it felt at times like the author was trying to force me to feel that it was. I felt at times that Caren was very anti-social and even when the other people at Belle Vie tried to befriend her she was very stand offish.I wish I could have learned more about Caren’s childhood and when it came to telling Jason’s story I did feel like the ending was a bit flat. Also this was too easy to put down. I wish the historical story had been given more time I think this and Caren’s childhood would have added another dimension that this was lacking. But I am not saying I didn’t enjoy this book, it started out strong but for me fell flat at the end. I think it was Caren that maybe turned me off she wasn't very likable and I think this book would have worked better if she had been. Narrtion of the this audiobook was done by, Quincy Tyler Bernstine who was a new to me narrator but I thought did a very good job I thought her voice was kind of a cross between Bahni Turpin & Jenna Lamia so I will definitely watch for more by this narrator .I know a lot of people enjoyed this book more than I did so I say give it a try for yourself and see what you think. I do highly recommend the audio version.3 Stars-Good Book but some things didn't connect with me

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Caren manages the plantation which has been in the Clancy family for generations. Now a tourist attraction and a venue for weddings and upscale parties, Caren oversees staged plays of the plantation’s history, lavish receptions and parties, and in essence, cares for the people who work there. When a young woman is found murdered on the premises, Caren is drawn unwillingly into the depths of the police investigation. Not only does it seem like one her workers is somehow involved with some shady behavior, it may be that her own daughter knows more than she is telling. And it seems like a cover-up of a death generations ago is somehow connected. This tale bogs down in connecting the past with the present. Though an interesting setting and mystery, the characters are not well developed nor are the storylines fully explored. In trying to maintain an air of mystery as the story unfolds, the tale instead just becomes stagnant. A good idea, just not a well written story.

[karenherndon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a good mystery that kept my interest and one of the few I wasn't sure " who dun it." Easy, fast read.

[twink_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a mental list of authors that I faithfully follow and I pick up everything they write. I know what I like and I have a good idea of what I'll be reading. But on the other side of that coin - picking up a book by an unfamiliar author is an adventure. The Cutting Season is Attica Locke's second book. I missed her debut novel - Black Water Rising - it won numerous prize nominations and lots of praise. But, after reading The Cutting Season, I can see why. Attica Locke is good -really good. Caren Gray and her young daughter have returned home to Belle Vie - the Louisiana plantation Caren was raised on. Her family history with Belle Vie stretches back to the days when her ancestors were slaves in the sugar cane fields. Now the plantation is a tourist attraction and Caren is the manager. It's not the path she wanted to pursue in life and she has mixed feelings about returning to the plantation. When an migrant worker is found murdered on the grounds, old and new wounds are opened - long buried history and new controversy. And Caren puts herself in the middle.... Locke drew me in immediately. I was of course caught up in the present day whodunit. There are lots of suspects and the path to the answer is winding. But, at the same time, Caren is caught up in the disappearance of her ancestor Jason, one hundred years ago. Locke skillfully weaves the unravelling of both narratives together. The mysteries are intriguing, but I enjoyed Locke's exploration of race, politics, business, history and yes, love, just as much. The juxtaposition of abolished slavery and the plight of migrant workers today provides much food for thought. The character of Caren came across as 'real'. Her own uncertainties, her relationship with her daughter, her ex and her coworkers all rang true. All of the supporting characters were just as well drawn. Having worked as a historical interpreter I enjoyed the descriptions of the cast and their dialogue. Locke's prose are wonderfully rich and atmospheric and brought her settings to life. "That beneath its loamy topsoil, the manicured grounds and gardens, two centuries of breathtaking wealth and spectacle—a stark beauty both irrepressible and utterly incapable of even the smallest nod of contrition—lay a land both black and bitter, soft to the touch, and pressing in its power. She should have known that one day it would spit out what it no longer had use for, the secrets it would no longer keep.” For this reader, a winner on all fronts. (And I'll be hunting down that first book!) Locke has been added to my 'list'. Dennis Lehane has picked The Cutting Season as the first book for his new imprint for Harper Collins. "I was first struck by Attica Locke's prose, then by the ingenuity of her narrative and finally and most deeply by the depth of her humanity. She writes with equal amounts grace and passion. After just two novels, I'd probably read the phone book if her name was on the spine."

[sharrona_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After enjoying Attica Locke's first novel, Black Water Rising, I expected another fast-paced, tense, and action-filled story. The Cutting Season was a disappointment in all three areas. Aside from the finding of a body in a shallow grave, everything else in the first 3/4 of the book seemed like background or side-story. Very little happened to advance the plot. As I started to listen, I groaned aloud at the narrator's voice. She sounded like a cranky child. But within a few minutes I got used to her, and appreciated her clear diction and the appropriate emotional content of her reading. Quincy Tyler Bernstine's narration actually improved the story.A romantic scene seemed to be added for no purpose at all; it gave little insight into the characters beyond making me like them a bit less for their questionable encounter. As with much of the text, it had nothing to do with the plot.I have already recommended Black Water Rising to many friends, and will continue to do so, but I've also started adding "but avoid Locke's second book."

[barb_h_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Won through Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.This book was a well written page turner. I enjoyed it very much. The suspense held me captive. Very impressed as only the author's 2nd book. I will certainly keep an eye out for more from her.

[pinkcrayon99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Caren Gray's life, past and present, has always been tied to the Belle Vie Plantation. Belle Vie is her childhood home. Caren Gray also has ancestral ties to Belle Vie. Her great-great-great grandfather, Jason, was a slave and later a free man on this very plantation. On what Caren thought was another routine day as manager of Belle Vie Plantation, she came across a body lying face down and at that moment Belle Vie began to reveal the secrets it could no longer keep. The Cutting Season is well organized and logically constructed. Locke gave the reader a history lesson dating back to slavery along with some investigative journalism into lives of migrant workers and their impact on a community. Locke deals with the class divisions within the African-American community reminding me of Toni Morrison's, TarBaby. There is a lot to keep in order all while the suspense of the murder investigation keeps you on edge. The more the murder investigation unfolds the more Caren discovers about her own life. Levelheaded would be the word I would use to describe Caren Gray. She is a single mother trying to raise her daughter and balance a career. Caren has to manage a plantation which is a busy tourist attraction along with its many employees who love to challenge her authority. Frankly, when I chose The Cutting Season I had no idea that it would read the way it did. It was a beautiful surprise. I can't say I fell in love with the story but the beauty was in Locke's writing style and the overall construction of the novel. From start to finish you knew you were in the hands of a skilled writer because the issues were relevant and woven deep into the narrative. Locke's prose was stunning. This book was provided by the publisher. Views and opinions are my own.

[asxz-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read this in one day. The second terrific book from Ms Locke. She's fantastically tuned in to race in America and this book deftly reaches back into the past to tell a thoroughly modern story. Of course plot always makes people behave in less than optimal ways or there wouldn't be any crime fiction but here people make bad decisions for believable reasons. This was a fine standalone thriller.

[miyurose_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found myself sucked into this story right from the start. I have a bit of a thing for old homes, and tour them every chance I’ve get. I’ve even been to Oak Alley Plantation, outside of New Orleans, which I believe is the inspiration for Belle Vie. So the unusual setting for this novel appealed to me.The writing is beautiful, and I liked the characters, for the most part. I actually found Caren to be one of the weaker characters. There’s not very much that is interesting or unique about her, other than her ability to mess up every relationship she’s ever had, romantic or familial. I’m still not sure I quite understand what her problem with her mother was. And she really just happens upon the solution to the mystery, rather than actually figuring it out. I also ended up confusing a lot of the Belle Vie workers with one another, especially towards the end.As far as the mystery goes, I found myself more interested in its effect on the workers of Belle Vie than in finding out whatever happened to the poor woman. I also ended up feeling a bit cheated, because you’re lead to believe that there is a connection between this woman’s murder and the disappearance of Caren’s ancestor, and it doesn’t pay off. In fact, we never truly find out what (or who) it is that was found in the fields.Overall, I found this to be a relatively satisfying read. There’s a definite undercurrent of social issues, but the author’s agenda is not overpowering. I certainly liked it enough to pick up something else by Locke.“Still, she took it as a sign. A reminder, really, that Belle Vie, its beauty, was not to be trusted. That beneath its loamy topsoil, the manicured grounds and gardens, two centuries of breathtaking wealth and spectacle, lay a land both black and bitter, soft to the touch, but pressing in its power. She should have known that one day it would spit out what it no longer had use for, the secrets it would no longer keep.”

[drapple_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really loved this mystery set on a plantation in Louisiana during modern times. The mystery links to a mystery in the narrator's family tree. The resolution is bittersweet, but also just right.

[kraaivrouw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was very excited to get a review copy of The Cutting Season for two reasons. First, I loved her first novel, Black Water Rising - there are images from that book still banging about in my head. Second, it's the first novel published under Dennis Lehane's imprint for Harper Collins and I think Lehane's a rock star. He made a great choice of first book and first author to promote.The Cutting Season tells the story of Caren, an independent woman who seems stuck - drawn back to the place where she grew up, settled into the pattern of who she used to be and who she is expected to be. As the manager of a historic plantation, her job involves what you might imagine, but also something you might not - the production of a pro-slavery play written by a doyenne of the plantation's history. The play and events surrounding it really heat things up and create a mystery that allows the author to meditate on race relations then and now, the nature of relationships, and on getting unstuck. Expect to stay up late reading just one more chapter and to be given imagery and history that will cause you to think about how much we've whitewashed in our history. Highly recommended.

[jjaylynny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well-written mystery about a murder on a former plantation abutting a modern sugar cane farm. Compelling images including the ambivalence of the Southern black population to preserving historic Civil War sites, the connection that former slaves might have to a symbol of repression. Unexpectedly moving in places, and a good sense of place.

[sogamonk · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

so boring...........................hmmmmmll............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[fbgnewbies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Slow in places and ending a bit forced.

[schatje_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Caren Gray manages Belle Vie, a restored plantation in Louisiana, now a tourist attraction. The body of a Latina migrant worker from the adjoining industrial sugarcane farm is found on the estate. Caren is drawn into the investigation of the case which seems to be related to the murder of her great-great-great-grandfather who worked at Belle Vie as both a slave and a free man.History is very much a character in the novel; it is a palpable presence to which people frequently allude. It soon becomes clear that the past has shaped people’s identities and lives and continues to shape their choices in the present. This is most obviously the case for Caren. There are also parallels between past and present. The poor wages, substandard living conditions, prejudice, and mistreatment experienced by post-Civil War blacks is mirrored to some extent in the wages, living conditions, prejudice, and mistreatment that are the lot of the migrant labourers.Locke excels at using the plantation to create atmosphere. From the beginning it is clear that this beautiful, apparently civilized setting hides long-buried strife and discord. Belle Vie is “not to be trusted. . . beneath its loamy topsoil, the manicured grounds and gardens, two centuries of breathtaking wealth and spectacle, lay a land both black and bitter, soft to the touch, but pressing in its power” (4).The book has the requisite suspense and red herrings, but the characterization of the protagonist bothered me. Caren is so very unobservant. As a manager she makes daily tours of the estate, but she is blind to so much that is going on at Belle Vie. She studied law for a couple of years, but she mishandles evidence she discovers and withholds information from investigators, usually for no convincing reason. At the end there is a major revelation concerning her ancestor but she is uninterested in following up on its implications. There are other flaws in the novel. The police investigators are stereo-typed as incompetent and myopic, as befitting a small town!? There are unanswered questions; for instance, much is made of the victim’s desire to find another home, but no satisfactory explanation is given as to why when her living situation is almost ideal in many ways. The ending is also less than satisfying. We learn that the perpetrator disagrees with the actions of a family member but aided him nonetheless? Furthermore, the final confrontation between Caren and the murderer is staged; it is doubtful that he could arrive at the location before Caren, given the time span involved, and the reasons for some of his behaviour during that confrontation are unclear. Then there are the annoying shifts from direct dialogue to narrated dialogue for no discernible reason.I admire Locke’s ability to expand the genre of crime fiction by including a theme about the connections between past and present, but I was disappointed with some of the plotting and characterization.

[zmagic69 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just couldn't get in to this book. As other people have said way too many characters to keep track of at the plantation. Very choppy writing questionable editing but ultimately it was a story I was never able to get into. I would like to try the author's first book and see if it was different.

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too slow, not for me.

[anita chandler may · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The tenacity of the women to get to the truth and the length the owner was willing to go to keep the truth from her.
I really enjoyed this book. Did not stop until,it ended

[khiemstra631 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Locke has written a mystery set at a Louisiana plantation, Belle Vie. (Don't bother looking it up as it's an imaginary place! Nonetheless, it sounds lovely.) Caren Gray, the curator, has family ties to the place dating back to her slave ancestor, Jason. Now she and her daughter live there in an apartment above the library. A migrant farm worker from an adjoining sugar cane farm is knifed to death and left on Bell Vie's grounds. Caren realizes that her nine-year-old daughter, Morgan, is somehow involved when she finds blood on her blouse sleeve. One of workers at Belle Vie, Donovan, is arrested for the crime after a summary investigation by the police. Caron spends the rest of the novel unraveling what actually happened to the victim, Inez, as well as to her long-missing ancestor Jason. The book provides a interesting look at life in post-Katrina Louisiana and has a good level of suspense. Recommended.

[bas615 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best books I have read this year. At once a gripping mystery and also an exploration of power and race. The characters rang very true to me. Caren's family drama is particularly well drawn. It is complex and we are left without complete resolution. This is how these things really work. I need more of these stories that paint the grey around the current state of race relations. Particularly in the South, there is so much history and complexity. But, there are also everyday lives. I love how this walks the line between the two. It is not a screed and yet the lessons are clearly there. Really, compelling work that is also very readable and enjoyable.

[venarain-354758 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. A complicated, conflicted female lead narrates this wide reaching mystery. Family, history, guilt, jealousy and fear play out in a tense, deeply researched fast paced story. I truly enjoyed it.

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A memorable book, set in New Orleans. Good characters, ended right. Descriptions excellent. Well-written. 

[mercef_9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A contemporary murder mystery that begins with the discovery of a body in the cane fields next to a plantation home in Louisiana. A parallel historical story about a missing slave also runs throughout the novel.
Although not the most gripping mystery I've read, this book piqued my interest about the Mississippi and the history of slavery in the South. If nothing else, I'm keen to read other stories that evoke a similar sense of place.

[nomadreader_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The basics: The Cutting Season is the story of Belle Vie, an old sugar plantation in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Caren currently runs Bell Vie, which has been turned into a historical site. Tours regularly come through to witness the history of how the land was once farmed by slaves. It's also a popular location for weddings and special events. Caren's ancestors once worked as slaves on Belle Vie, and her mother worked there as a cook. With deep, complicated family ties to the land, Caren returned home to Belle Vie with her nine-year-old daughter Morgan. When the body of a young woman is discovered on the grounds of the plantation, Caren finds herself trying to solve the crime and discover if there's a connection to the mystery of why her great-great-great-grandfather disappeared from this land so many years ago.My thoughts: If pressed to pick a genre for this novel, I would begrudgingly call it a literary mystery. Somehow this moniker sells it short to me, however, as Locke uses a mystery to explore themes of race, class, history and progress. Caren is a fascinating character who slowly shares the details of her life, and the lives of her ancestors, with the reader. I appreciated how Locke used Caren to demonstrate the complicatedness of her relationship with Southern history.I devoured this novel in twenty-four hours, and even though Locke sprinkled only minor clues throughout the novel, I did correctly guess the resolution to both the historic and contemporary storylines quite early. While normally figuring out the ending dampens my enjoyment of a mystery, in this case it did not. Finding out who killed the young woman on Belle Vie is never really the focus of the story. Caren gets caught up in the investigation, but the more urgent and fascinating storyline is of the plantation itself. Locke traces its history from before the Civil War, through emancipation, to Caren's childhood and, finally, to present day. Glimpsing into race relations over all of these years was illuminating enough, but what sets Locke apart from her peers is her ability to also weave in detail about business, politics, love, and parenting. Her books feel like complete worlds, and thus provide the reader with a multi-dimensional tale.The verdict: The Cutting Season falls a little short of the impossibly high standards Locke set with Black Water Rising, but it will enchant fans of fiction with social justice themes. The mystery's resolution didn't surprise me, but Locke's writing, characterization and exploration of historical and contemporary race relations on a Louisiana sugar plantation are powerful enough to transcend the mystery's slight weakness. Locke once again proves she can write about the past and present powerfully.

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book because the author was to speak during our week at the Chautauqua Institute. I considered it a pretty good mystery, but after listening to Attica Locke and what the setting and the story meant to her, I have an added respect for it. The mystery is still only so-so, but the setting, characters and historical back-story are marvelous.