We’re lucky to have a number of wonderful authors and great books in the Gold Leaf roster these days (with possibly more late-year additions to come!). Get the details below and let us know if you’re a bookseller, librarian, reviewer, or someone else who would like to get a copy!
Streets of Nashville
by Michael Amos Cody
April 15, 2025
Madville Publishing
Paperback | 978-1-963695-17-5 | $22.95
Ebook | 978-1-963695-18-2 | $9.99
The author of the novel Gabriel’s Songbook and the Feathered Quill Award-winning short story collection Twilight Reel, Michael Amos Cody continues to bring his musical roots into gritty, lyrical fiction with his new novel, Streets of Nashville. Partly inspired by a real murder in 1980s Nashville, Cody’s third book follows Runion, NC native Ezra McRae who, on the eve of breaking into the songwriting world of Nashville, witnesses a brutal murder and becomes a point of obsession for the killer. Ezra’s hopes coupled with the killer’s ever-growing darkness keeps this page-turner churning. Kirkus calls it “a bold thriller.” Cody teaches at Eastern Tennessee State University and lives in Jonesborough, TN.
King Cal
By Peter McDade
April 16, 2025
Trouser Press Books
Paperback | 979-8-9898283-7-1 | $17.95
In his Mrs. Dalloway-esque contemporary third novel, Peter McDade (Songs for Honeybird, The Weight of Sound) brings readers along for a day in the mind of Calvin, a young man with musical aspirations, as he works his menial fast food job, composes lyrics, loses his band and his girlfriend, and is forced to question his dreams. McDade was the drummer for the indie bands Uncle Green and 3 lb. Thrill and currently plays with Paul Melançon & the New Insecurities in Atlanta, where he lives, as well as teaching History at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College. King Cal has received praise for its accurate portrayal of this crux in the life of a musician from the likes of Dan Wilson of Semisonic and Elliot Easton of The Cars.
Port City
By Eliot Sefrin
May 6, 2025
Pisgah Press
Hardcover | 978-1-942016-93-9 | $27.95
Paperback | 978-1-942016-95-3 | $19.95
As a powerful wave of worker unrest sweeps across post-World War II America, a bitterly fought tugboat strike cripples the nation’s preeminent city, pits an upstart labor union against powerful corporate interests, and tests the bond between two brothers—one a rebellious new-age union leader, the other a war-weary ex-G.I. struggling to reboot his life—in Port City, the fourth novel from Eliot Sefrin (Officers Down, The Death of Dahlgren Place, Blood in the Promised Land). Sefrin, a journalist and author for 40+ years, lives outside Wilmington, NC with his wife Rosalyn, a former NYC police officer. Pisgah Press is based in Asheville, NC.
The Miniaturist’s Assistant
By Katherine Scott Crawford
May 13, 2025
Regal House Publishing
Paperback | 978-1-646035-92-2 | $21.95
Ebook | 978-1-646035-93-9 | $9.99
This dual-timeline art mystery explores the choices and passions it takes to create–whether that’s a miniature portrait in 1804 or a life of one’s own in 2004–as well as what it means to be a fully realized woman in any century. Romantic, historical Charleston serves as the backdrop and becomes an additional character. Connie May Fowler calls it “a rollicking, page-turning tale” and “unforgettable.” Crawford (Keowee Valley), a native South Carolinian who has made her home in Brevard, NC for many years, has worked several interesting jobs including journalist, columnist, and academic.
This Moth Saw Brightness
By A. A. Vacharat
May 27, 2025
Dutton Books for Young Readers
Hardcover | 978-0-593698-60-0 | $20.99
Ebook | 978-0-593698-62-4 | $10.99
Audiobook | 979-8-217074-47-1 | $25.00
This debut YA novel twists and turns as a neurodivergent BIPOC young man enters a health study that at first glance seems ordinary. As he completes the tasks, he and his friends are drawn into an M. C. Escheresque maze of conspiracies that might be entirely in their heads or might truly be a sinister government plot. This story touches so many current issues including the ways in which technology helps and isolates us and the deep loneliness of being an outsider, even within your own family, while maintaining a sense of humor. A. A. Vacharat is an artist and writer based in Asheville, NC, whose one-of-a-kind painted fountain pens recently appeared in Pen World.
Lifer
By John Rhea
June 10, 2025
Redhawk Publications
Paperback | 978-1-959346-74-6 | $20.00
Crime and Punishment Southern lawyer style. Jack Merritt is a former lawyer now serving a life sentence for a crime in which he never thought he’d partake. John Rhea, a former criminal defense attorney, uses his background in the legal system to craft a thoughtful exploration of family bonds, bad decisions, and how close anyone can get to a life forever changed. It’s also a glimpse inside the camaraderie and dangers within a maximum security prison. A native South Carolinian, Rhea now lives outside Asheville, NC with his wife and rescue pets.
That Which Binds Us
By Cathy Rigg
June 10, 2025
Turner Publishing
Hardcover | 978-1-684429-93-6 | $31.99
Paperback | 978-1-684429-94-3 | $17.99
That Which Binds Us explores the intersections of five people on the Western frontier of Virginia, just as the Civil War unfolds. Elizabeth Young is headstrong and hoping for something more than what her town affords her, but when three strangers enter her life, everything she knew and dreamed of is turned upside down. Author Adriana Trigiani says, “That Which Binds Us is an Appalachian love story with glorious twists and turns, longing and grief, and resplendent redemption.” Cathy Rigg is a native of Virginia and a writer, painter, and brand and marketing strategist. She and her husband divide their time between Columbia, SC and Burnsville, NC.
The Witch’s Orchard
By Archer Sullivan
August 12, 2025
Minotaur/Macmillan
Hardcover | 978-1-250338-68-6 | $28.00
Annie Gore is an unforgettable addition to the P.I. mystery genre! From rural Appalachia, she escaped to the Air Force and, once out, started her own investigation firm in Louisville, KY. The brother of a girl who disappeared, along with two others, ten years ago asks Annie to come to his small Western NC town to try to find some answers. When she does, her childhood memories meet a town full of heartbreak and new crimes and twisted tales begin to unravel what happened to the three little girls. Archer Sullivan is a ninth generation Appalachian who currently lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Reckon Review, and The Best American Mystery Stories 2024, among others.
In the Fullness of Time
By Terry Roberts
August 19, 2025
Turner Publishing
Hardcover | 979-8-887980-58-4 | $34.99
Paperback | 979-8-887980-57-7 | $18.99
Clinton Salter, a reluctant sheriff, and lonely high school principal try to find respite from life high in the hills of Madison County, NC, but Salter’s cabin can’t keep the darker elements of the area away forever. Political and personal aggressions threaten the solace-seekers and their visions for the future. Terry Roberts, a seventh generation Appalachian, is beloved for his novels featuring P.I. Stephen Robbins. He is the author of six previous novels and The New Smart: How Nurturing Creativity Will Help Children Thrive, based on his work as Director of the National Paideia Center. He lives in Asheville with his wife, Lynn.
Angels at the Gate
By Sheri Joseph
September 2, 2025
Regal House Publishing
Paperback | 978-1-646036-53-0 | $20.95
Ebook | 978-1-646036-54-7 | $9.99
Author Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here, The Family Fang) nails this story: “Sheri Joseph’s mesmerizing Angels at the Gate is more than a campus novel, more than a mystery, more than a reflection on memory. It’s a deeply-felt story of a young student, Leah, and her friends and classmates, as they begin to create the person they will become, and the choices they make that forever remind them of what they left behind. It’s heartbreaking, joyful, and utterly unforgettable.” Sheri Joseph is the author of Where You Can Find Me, Stray, and Bear Me Safely Over. She lives in Atlanta and teaches in the creative writing program at Georgia State University.
The Deliverance of Barker McRae
By Stacia Pelletier
September 2, 2025
Mercer University Press
Hardcover | 978-0-88146-972-1 | $27.00
Ebook | 978-0-88146-973-1| price to come
Set in the 1830s against the backdrop of the Cherokee land lottery and the Georgia gold rush, The Deliverance of Barker McRae explores Author Jamie Ford says, “With incredible detail and unflinching honesty, this novel exemplifies the very best of historical fiction, illuminating the past with heart, depth, and undeniable power.” Stacia Pelletier grew up in Asheville, NC and is currently relocating from Atlanta, GA to Winston-Salem, NC. She is the author of Accidents of Providence and The Half Wives.