City of Grudges

January 29, 2018
Outzen, the publisher and owner of Pensacola Inweekly, a Florida alt-weekly newspaper, brings his journalistic expertise to his provocative first novel. Walker Holmes publishes the Pensacola Insider, a weekly that struggles to stay solvent while speaking truth to power. Walker’s editorial slant has placed him on many influential people’s enemies lists, and he’s in the thick of controversy again in the case of Bo Hines, a former friend. Bo, a popular community leader, was lauded for his support of the Florida Panhandle Arts Council, until Walker’s digging revealed that he had embezzled from it. Walker’s pariah status only worsens when the accused man’s wife, Sue, apparently take her own life just before the start of Bo’s trial. Walker looks into the circumstances of Sue’s death while clashing with the local sheriff over another potential scandal. The resolution isn’t as good as what comes before, but Outzen easily conveys the feel of the kind of journalism he practices in real life.