Boll Weevil (Paperback or Softback)

BOLL WEEVIL is a legal-political drama depicting a tumultuous election for political office in rural South Georgia. While the battle at the polls and in the courtroom carry the story forward, the greatest drama unfolds among the relationships of the people involved. It is a story about friendship, marriage, and family. It is a story about the corrupting influence of power and the ambitions of youth, which may unseat that power, but also may be crushed by it.

In BOLL WEEVIL, Daniel Riley is a brash young lawyer, who leaves a promising legal career in Atlanta, to return to his South Georgia hometown--the fictional Goshen County--to seek political office. His wife Amber is trepidatious, but loyal, and shares a love for their hometown. Daniel recruits the assistance of his childhood best friend and debate partner, Michael Drummond, a brilliant, serious African-American lawyer who has himself been working to reshape their home county.

Daniel seeks to unseat Leon Darby, the long-standing County Commissioner, for his job. The opportunity arises when the state of Georgia legalizes marijuana, but individual counties can elect to remain dry. Darby, who is concerned that marijuana will displace the tobacco business that has made him rich, declares that Goshen County will stay dry. Daniel sees demand from the farming community to grow this new crop. However, the young politician soon realizes how little he understands the place and people he seeks to represent. To win, he must first confront his own misapprehensions about a society from which he has long been separated. Second, he must overcome the brutal, desperate means deployed by those in power to maintain their hold.