A Little Death in Dixie

Written by Lisa Turner

Narrated by Timothy McKean

The blues were born out of pride, anger, and need. Murder comes from those same dark places.

One of Memphis' most seductive and notorious socialites has disappeared. She's either off on another of her drunken escapades or the disappearance is something much more frightening. What begins as an ordinary day's work for Detective Billy Able of the Memphis P.D. quickly grows into a high-level spider's web of tragedy, mystery, suspicion, passion, and sordid secrets--including a few of Billy's own.

Along with Mercy Snow, the estranged sister of the missing socialite, Billy follows a twisted path of human frailty and corruption to disturbing truths that undermine everything he thought he knew about himself and the people he loves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Mar 11, 2025
• ISBN: 9781094478418

Lisa Turner

Born in Memphis, Lisa Turner travels between her ancestral home in the Deep South and her writing getaway on the wildly beautiful coast of Nova Scotia.

Reviews for A Little Death in Dixie

[todd paulsmeyer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was a super fun listen. I enjoyed the plot twists and there were enough good surprises to keep me engaged. Great characters too.

[Joseph Bair · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good start, storyline deepens beautifully with time. Enjoyed the twisty plot.

[Laureen Pickle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Predictable, characters are not realistic, dialogue is trite. Just ok

[kristin taylor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fabulous audiobook. The characters, the storyline, the pacing… I couldn’t stop listening. The narrator was also great and suited the story.

If I wanted to be picky, there were some minor plot holes in the last few chapters when things were coming to a resolution. And some of the characters had confusing pathology that didn’t always track. But those were minor in the grand scheme of things and I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good police procedural/mystery.

[Karen Chandler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is so well written you have many side stories and twists and turns that it maintained your interest. The end gathers it all together and binds it all up. Good book.

[marylenox52 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lots of mystery and twists and turns. Characters were great.

[stephanie Jordan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story kept me listening. It was a roller coaster ride. Like when your watching a movie and you know who's behind the evil, in the middle of the story. I wanted to tell Billy when he was hot, warm or cold. I did like the way that it ended.

[WALTER M CRUMP · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An engaging, plot twisting novel, well read by
Jeffrey Kafer, however most of the atmosphere of the novel is lost by not having a reader who could ‘speak’ Southern dialect. Thus the three stars.

[Mark · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good story, a little twisted in the end feels like a movie.

[comictestimony · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Salutations, Author I really enjoyed your story! Have you considered enhancing it with pictures, animation, or promotion? As a graphic designer, I've helped several authors add cover art, line art, comic-style graphics, and animation to their work at a reasonable cost. I would be excited to collaborate with you and support the realization of your goal. Let's communicate.

Please get in touch with me.

@testimony_comic on Discord

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https://www.facebook.com/hortime.art

[quilterfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it. That narrator was a little weak, not much emotion in his voice but a really good story line. Gets a bit sketchy towards the end. Crazy people out there! Enjoy

[K G · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

2.5 stars, rounded down for narration - it took me a little over 1/2 way to get past his droning lisp and weird pauses; it’s not awful but it’s not good either - thankfully it looks like the other books are read by someone else.
The story itself is decent, a bit heavy on the good ole southerns - complete with racism, misogyny, and ‘traditional’ m/f dynamics and damsels in distress.
Character development is fairly solid and the plot pacing is good. Will likely listen to the next two books as filler material.
This one wraps up nicely so there’s no cliff hanging need if you don’t want to get vested in a series.

[Marie Toole · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well written and narrated. There are unexpected twists that will keep you guessing

[Philippa Martin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great read. A real page turner with lots of twists and turns.

[Havelock Vetinari · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent storyline, excellent narration. Very engaging read. Finished listening in two days. Highly recommended.

[debavp · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Born and raised in Memphis and an avid serial fiction reader, I was looking forward to this. Right off the bat I encountered annoying character names, really, really annoying names. The mystery started out fairly strong but carried on for far too long and then took a super wrong term with a really cheap plot twist-very disappointing from there on.

[maneekuhi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's over-written. There's enough crime and enough characters here for a 600 page novel, and "A Little Death in Dixie" is not quite 300 pages. It's good, it has a lot of pluses, and it could have been a lot better. Until I got into the second half, I figured I had a 5-star book here, but then it all became too much. The protagonist is Memphis Police Detective Sergeant Billy Able. Billy and his partner Lou are investigating the recent disappearance of Sophie, an attractive, well to do woman well known to the police for her frequent benders and her well placed acquaintances. And she and Billy had been an item at one time. Then there's her mother Gloria, sister Mercy, and her husband. And the Judge. And the Judge's croquet partners (see where this is going). And Charles who bags Sophie's groceries at the super market where she was last seen. Suddenly and unexpectedly, one of the supporting cast is dead, but we soon meet another dozen characters. The investigation continues despite considerable pressure from the next levels of police management to drop it. So, the basic plot is quite good, and the story unfolds nicely. Author Turner gives a real southern feel to her book, and we readers come away with a fairly detailed picture of Memphis warts and all. The characters are interesting and well drawn up. Despite the large cast I had no problem keeping everybody straight. Unfortunately, a few of the more interesting ones wind up going to jail or get promoted, and so will not likely appear in future books. And the setting for book 2 seems likely to change, which is also unfortunate, but it will stay southern which is a plus. So, I will read the 2nd book (actually it has been released recently and its good reviews are what drew me to this series). However, if Ms. Turner hasn't tightened things up a bit or "Gone Dead Train", it'll be sayonara for me. One last aside - let's see we've had "Gone Girl", "Girl on the Train", and now we have "Gone Dead Train". I think we've done about all we can with "gone", "girl", and "train" for crime fiction titles, let's move on.

[fdrury-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As soon as I read the first few pages I knew I was in for a great read. Turner's prose flows from paragraph to paragraph and never leaves the reader with any hesitation about continuing to read the story. The story of Detective Billy Able and the crime he solves is great, but the true enjoyment for me came from the strong character development and the wonderful descriptions of Memphis,Tennesee, where the story takes place. I have only been there once before reading this book but now I feel like I have revisited it. The story kept me gripped through the final chapter, where the truth finally comes out about what had really happened. A tremendous first novel and I look forward to Lisa Turner's next book.

[bettyb30 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was good but was a bit long in getting places at times. The ending was good and I wouldn't discourage reading it but I am not going to tell you to run out and grab it immediately either. :)

[bevash · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very good bok. It held my interest from beginning to end. I enjoyed reading it very much.

[zumbanista · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Satisfying Detective Novel (E-Book)

Although I was lucky enough to buy this page-turner for only $.99 I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it at its current Amazon posted price of $9.39. I couldn't put it down once I picked it up.

It delivers much more than you'd think for a debut novel, and what the title leads you to believe. The plot is rich with twists and turns, the characters are flawed and villains truly evil. Ms. Turner does a great job defining the southern setting and society and drawing realistic dialogue and police procedure. You won't be disappointed if you like mystery, political corruption, believable characters and a touch of romance.

Would make a good movie too. Well-recommended.

[quincidence · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A crime scene, some pecan pie, a horse show, a southern wedding, a damsel in distress, and a few love affairs.
This book has some great ideology, some romance, a little diviance, and some social control.
Southern life and its norms are laid out before you, while a crime scene unfurls.

[drapple_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I kept seeing A Little Death in Dixie. It was recommended to me by Amazon, based on my previous reading habits; it was featured in my book club brochure; it was reviewed in several magazines. Somehow, the book just didn't appeal to me, but then, I read it! This is a wonderful mystery with appealing and despicable characters, interwoven mysteries, and a bit of humor at just the right places.

Mercy Snow has returned to Memphis at her sister's request. Mercy left years ago and has made it on her own, beginning a bakery in Atlanta. Her mother and her sister have always treated her as the ugly duckling. Mercy has built up her self esteem, but is till battling bitterness.

Billy Able, a young homicide detective, has recently ended a long-term relationship and is worried sick about his partner whose recent divorce seems to have driven him over the edge. Lou's behavior goes from erratic to dangerous, leaving Billy angry, puzzled, and hurt.

Billy and Mercy come together after the disappearance of Sophia, the beautiful sister. Bodies begin to pile up and mysteries interweave. This mystery keeps you guessing until the final chapter.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although early on, one knows the true identity of the "bad" guy, it keeps one in suspense as to the how/why of the murder/missing person AND will the truth ever come out. It would seem that every mystery has to have the lead detective fall for a major-player female/male victim or relative of a victim. Have authors ever considered NOT having that happen???? haven't read too many that don't.... Too many Barbies and Kens in this genre, but I still read it! LOL!

[cathyskye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First Line: The elderly black man lay crumpled and dead in the marigolds bordering his clapboard house.

Well-known Memphis socialite Sophia Dupree is missing. At first thought to be on just another one of her drunken binges, the longer she's gone the more people wonder if she's learned a new trick-- or if something serious has happened to her. Detective Billy Able is on the case, and with the help of Lou Nevers, the partner he's always hero worshipped, Billy believes they'll get the answers they need. But Lou goes off the rails, and Billy finds himself with the most unlikely of partners: Mercy Snow, the estranged sister of the missing Sophia.

As Billy steps up his investigation, he finds himself underneath a huge overturned can of worms. Each worm seems to be a long-buried secret, a deadly plan set in action, corrupt motivations, thoughts and deeds. Billy soon wonders if he's ever really known the truth-- and will he learn all the truth before it's too late?

Starting with the dead man in the marigolds, A Little Death in Dixie grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. The life story of the dead man's wife, Mrs. Lady Tuggle, broke my heart and planted the seed in my mind that I was reading a very special debut novel.

The book has strong elements of Southern Gothic that are very well done. (The epitome of Southern Gothic, for me, has always been William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily.") For the most part, the bad guys aren't hidden, and the reader's job is not to guess their identities, but to piece everything together to get a complete picture of the bad guys' agendas. Let me tell you, those agendas are enough to curl your hair... or straighten it as the case may be.

I was completely hooked by Billy and Mercy, and I wouldn't mind reading about them again. Lisa Turner is an author to watch.

[amf0001 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm surprised at how kind the reviews at Amazon were. I found this to be a quite average book - certainly not written with the strength or wit of something like, Lush Life which brought New York so vividly to life, or the charm of something like Cross Road's Cafe. Instead it passed the time adequately enough but none of these characters will linger in my head, and I won't reread this. I also found it really hard to place how old these characters were, I thought Sophia was in her 30's but then it said somewhere that she and T Wayne had been married for 25 years. That really surprised me. If I can't figure out the basics of how old all the characters are, then it is not a well written book.

Mercy is coming home to see her sister Sophia and mother Gloria, but her sister isn't there. Instead she's gone missing. But Mercy is an alcoholic who has gone missing before, so Gloria's worries initially seem a bit misplaced. However it turns out that this time something has happened. Billy is looking for Sophia at the same time his long respected partner Lou (also couldn't place his age, none of the timelines really worked for me in this book) is having a meltdown. Shocking things happen. I didn't really engage with this book, it wasn't well written, it didn't have that great southern gothic atmosphere that some books can create and the characters, (with the notable exception of Lou) were fairly pastiche. And Lou, well, we needed to think about him, but I'm not sure how much I believed his story or found him to be a coherent character. I guess we spent so much time looking at him through Billy's eyes, and it turned out that Billy had a lot to learn about Lou...

[glitrbug_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been watching that new show "Memphis" so this book called out to me. It's a Southern Gothic novel and reminds me of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Lots of hot summer nights, drinking, memories of old lovers and of course The Blues. The plot twists around and around till you think you know what's going on, and then the end comes out of nowhere. Usually I prefer a mystery where you are given enough clues to figure it out along with the police, but part of the story is the shock of the whole thing. Great book.

[gttexas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Surprisingly good! The best new mystery I've read so far this year.

[bumpersmom · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A Little Death in Dixie is supposed to be a murder mystery, but the real story for me, didn't begin until the last 50 pages or so. The lead up to to that took the first 250 pages. I had a very hard time reading this book because there was page after page of useless information that just didn't seem to engage my love of mystery. As a police procedural, the details seemed to drag on and on, and getting to the meat of the story took forever. The concept of the story, the characters, and the setting are perfect for a really good thriller that just wasn't delivered.

[richard3432 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ms. Tuner started her writing career with a bang. A Little Death In Dixie is going to go down a classic mystery for years to come. Detective Billy Able is on the same level as Alex Cross by James Patterson. I cant wait Ms. Tuner to come out with the next book.