The Accident Report

“Ralph Ellis delights the reader with engaging characters, a suspenseful plot, and laugh-out-loud humor.” –Kim McCollum, author of What Happens in Montana

It’s the summer of 1974, and Woodward and Bernstein have vanquished Nixon from the White House. In a sleepy North Carolina textile town, rookie reporter Ronald Truluck is bored with writing about lawn mower thefts when he gets a tip - city councilman Lamont Moody got drunk, drove his Bonneville off the road, and ripped up somebody’s front yard. But the police let him walk away.

Recognizing a cover-up when he sees it, Ronald vows to break Lamontgate and make his bones as a serious journalist. It won’t be easy. Ronald is a long-haired pothead who’s loosey-goosey with the facts. His paper, The Eagle, runs pet-of-the-week photos on the front page, not corruption stories. And the linchpin source only wants to talk about his book of poetry, not the accident. With a little help from his brainy girlfriend and the flower-child city hall reporter, Ronald lands the story - with results nobody expected.

Ralph Ellis is a journalist who has worked for small-town newspapers, big-city dailies, and digital news organizations. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and pulls for the Tar Heels. He has three adult children and lives in Decatur, Georgia, with his wife, food writer Susan Puckett. When not writing, Ralph can be found walking in his neighborhood with Zena, the slowest greyhound in North America. His website can be found at ralphellisauthor.com.