Join us for the book launch of Wanda Morris’s new book What You Leave Behind, 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 still persists in half the United States today. Registration requested.

Our bookseller for the evening will be The Book Worm in Powder Springs, GA, and you may preorder the book from them here.

This event will be held in the Decatur Library Auditorium. Enter through the Ground level, rear doors.

About the Book:

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. 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.

About the Author:

Wanda M. Morris is the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets, which has been praised by Karin Slaughter as “brilliantly nuanced” and reviewed by The Boston Globe, LA Times, New York Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seattle Times, and South Florida Sun Sentinel, among others. Her second novel, Anywhere You Run, won the Anthony award for Best Historical Novel of 2023 and was longlisted for the prestigious Mark Twain Voice in American Literature Prize. She is married, the mother of three, and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

About the Moderator:

Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels (including The Homewreckers; The Santa Suit; The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental; The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction. She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA.

Praise for What You Leave Behind:

“A tense and topical legal thriller.... Morris nimbly balances character and plot, anchoring the mystery’s big questions in the emotional lives of Deena and her fellow Brunswick residents. This entertains as much as it enlightens.”

– Publishers Weekly

“WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND cements Wanda M. Morris as one of the most exciting thriller writers working today.”

– Kellye Garrett, award winning author of Missing White Woman

"A single-sitting read! This is the kind of thriller that keeps you thinking long after the last page."
— Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A propulsive and unforgettable thriller.”

— Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego

"Morris has written a perfect novel for a book group, and it’s sure to be one of the best books of 2024."

— firstCLUE