When two men meet in the Virginia state penitentiary in a maximum security visitation room on May 5, 1968, they have only one thing in common: they both want their lives back. On one side of a glass divider sits Kenneth Deatherage, who was sentenced to death for the brutal rape and murder of a young woman. The jury agreed with the prosecutor’s closing argument: that all evidence points to Deatherage as the killer. But Deatherage says the evidence was fabricated. He claims that the judge and his own lawyer rigged the trial against him. On the other side of the divider sits Nate Abbitt, who was a successful prosecutor until he tried to drink his way through a midlife crisis. When he finally sobered up, he had lost his career, his marriage of thirty years, and his self-respect. He turned to criminal defense because it was the only work he could get. When the court appoints Nate to represent Deatherage on appeal, Nate doesn’t believe there’s a grand conspiracy to send Deatherage to the electric chair. But when his investigation uncovers hints of corruption in the county justice system, he finds himself accused of murder by the same forces that convicted his client. To save himself, Nate risks his life and the lives of others, and in the process, discovers that he and Deatherage have much more in common than he wants to admit. " . . . intrigu­ing legal thriller looks deeply at cor­rup­tion in the jurispru­dence sys­tem. The recov­er­ing alco­holic pro­tag­o­nist is a fas­ci­nat­ing lead as he begins to regain his lost life when he accepts the harm he com­mit­ted to inno­cent peo­ple . . . . enjoy­able sto­ry­line spins from a superb cap­i­tal case to a more con­ven­tional David vs. Goliath thriller . . . strong his­tor­i­cal fiction." - The Mystery Gazette "Ken Oder debuts with an intel­li­gent, atmos­pheric and achingly roman­tic legal thriller. I loved this book, and I can't wait for his next one." - Pamela Fagan Hutchins, USA Best Book Award win­ning author of Heaven to Betsy and the Katie & Annalise mysteries "Iron­i­cally, just days after The Clos­ing [was published], Okla­homa botched the exe­cu­tion of Clay­ton Lock­ett, who accord­ing to eye-witness accounts tried to get up and speak after being given the sup­pos­edly lethal injec­tion. Although this book is set in 1968 Vir­ginia, the sub­ject mat­ter could hardly be more topical. . . . what­ever side of the issue you are on, The Clos­ing should inform your view about cap­i­tal punishment." - Marlene Munoz These novels tell the stories of the people who lived in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1960s. Whippoorwill Hollow is a fictional valley that runs along Little Bear River between the mountains and Fox Run, a small town near the edge of Shenandoah National Park in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ken Oder was born in Virginia in the coastal tidewater area near the York and James Rivers, where military installations during World Wars I and II fueled the growth of urban centers like Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News. His father worked for the Navy Mine Depot in Yorktown and later as a Hudson dealer until he heard his calling to preach. When he became the minister at Mount Moriah Methodist Church in 1960, the family moved to White Hall, Virginia, a farm town of about fifty people at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains and the rural culture were a jarring contrast to the busy coastal plains, but once the shock wore off, Ken came to love it there. The mountains and hollows are spectacularly beautiful. The people are thoughtful, friendly, and quietly courageous. White Hall became his home, and his affection and respect for the area and its people have never left him. Ken and his wife moved to Los Angeles in 1975, where he practiced law and served as an executive until he retired. They still live near their children and grandchildren in California, but a piece of his heart never left White Hall, and that place and time come out in his stories.