DECENT PEOPLE
From Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winning author De’Shawn Charles Winslow, a sweeping and unforgettable novel of a Black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the secrets the killings reveal.
In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976, Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon—three enigmatic siblings—are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills— on both sides of the canal that serves as the town’s color line—are in a frenzy of finger-pointing, gossip, and wonder. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don’t seem to have any interest in solving the case.
From Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winning author De’Shawn Charles Winslow, a sweeping and unforgettable novel of a Black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the secrets the killings reveal.
In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina, in 1976, Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon—three enigmatic siblings—are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills— on both sides of the canal that serves as the town’s color line—are in a frenzy of finger-pointing, gossip, and wonder. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don’t seem to have any interest in solving the case.
Fortunately, one person is determined to do more than talk. Miss Josephine Wright has just moved back to West Mills from New York City to retire and marry a childhood sweetheart, Olympus “Lymp” Seymore. When she discovers that the murder victims are Lymp’s half-siblings, and that Lymp is one of West Mills’s leading suspects, she sets out to prove his innocence. But as Jo investigates those who might know the most about the Harmons’ deaths, she starts to discover more secrets than she’d ever imagined, and a host of cover-ups—ranging from medical misuse to illicit affairs—that could upend the reputations of many.
For readers of American Spy and Bluebird, Decent People is a powerful new novel about shame, race, money, and the reckoning required to heal a fractured community.
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Paperback
- January 2024
- 272 Pages
- 9781639733040
Buy the Book
$17.99
About De'Shawn Charles Winslow
De’Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner, an American Book Award recipient, and a Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction winner, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book, Lambda Literary, and Publishing Triangle awards. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Praise
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by USA Today, Electric Literature, The Root, The Philadelphia Inquirer, AARP, Book Riot, and Lambda Literary
“Winslow offers several points of view in this character-driven mystery, once again pulling readers in with conversational, highly readable writing while deftly weaving in themes of race, sexuality, and small-town dynamics. Another winner.” —Booklist
“Winslow chronicles the aftermath of a triple homicide that rocks a segregated Southern community in his dynamic latest . . . There are a trove of surprises along the way to the well-earned resolution, and Winslow entrances readers with strong characters, impeccable prose, and brisk pacing. As a character-driven mystery, it delivers the goods.” —Publishers Weekly
“This tale comes across as considerably more than a regional whodunit because of its author’s humane and sensitive perceptions toward his characters, even those who may not deserve such equanimity.” —Kirkus Reviews
“One of De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s greatest gifts is his world-building mastery. West Mills and the people who reside in it feel so real, recognizable, tangible, vibrant, and vivid. His rendering of this southern landscape is extraordinary. And this skill serves Decent People very well. It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a good, old-fashioned whodunnit, and thisis a most outstanding one, accomplishing several feats at once: it’s a compelling mystery with brilliant misdirections and surprising revelations, all while having depth of purpose and critical, crucial social commentary. Decent People is quite the achievement.” —Robert Jones Jr., author of the National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller, The Prophets
“Anyone who adored Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake and Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Take My Hand, take note. De’Shawn Charles Winslow invites readers on a satisfying ride that, through his keen observations of human nature, leads to deeper considerations of the glacial progress of racial equality.” —BookPage, starred review
“De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s powerful second novel Decent People is a gripping mystery but also something more. A thoughtful examination of small-town life becomes a story about America itself, looking directly at the legacies of racism and segregation, homophobia and secrecy, poverty and power.” –Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind
Discussion Questions
1. Throughout the novel, Jo is fixated on Lymp taking a polygraph test. Where does her mistrust originate? Is it valid? How is she influenced by the community?
2. Savannah describes her father, Ted as “not quite a Klansmen,” whereas Darby is described as a “good ol’ boy . . . a third-generation Klansmen.” What is the distinction here, if any? How are different levels of racism expressed throughout the novel and through different characters?
3. “His very existence reminds me of my mother’s heartache” is Marian’s explanation for her resentment toward Lymp. What does she mean by this? What other “mother’s [heartaches]” inform the narrative and the characters’ actions?
4. “And though [Ted] would not be able to confide in [Hera] his sorrows or his worries, he just wanted to feel safe. With his mother, he always felt safe.” How do mothers in the novel protect and endanger their children?
5. Marian tells Ted that she “regrets nothing . . . life is too short for it.” How is the theme of regret explored throughout the novel? How is regret destructive? How does regret help characters channel empathy or compassion?
6. Savannah is disinherited by her father for marrying a black man and having black children. How does she still maintain and exercise her privilege despite these obstacles? How is she perceived by the community, and how does it affect her?
7. Marian believes that “money is freedom.” How is that idea confirmed and challenged in the novel? How does the theme of social mobility intersect with the themes of racism and greed?
8. Eunice is obsessed with “curing” LaRoy of “homosexuality,” claiming “something had to be done quickly, before he had a chance to act on it.” Are her concerns motivated by morality or shame? How is her husband’s absence from the conversation to be interpreted? How can do you interpret her husband’s “sins” in relation to LaRoy’s?
9. “All three of ’em had to go. They didn’t know their place. Their daddy didn’t either. They had to go,” Hera confesses to the authorities. What significance does her decisive role in the story have thematically? What do you think the author was trying to suggest by having her as the book’s major twist?
10. “You may not remember, but you were a happy child before we moved north. You loved it in West Mills. It was paradise for you, Jojo.” What is the role of West Mills itself in the novel, and what do you make of the different ways Jojo, Herschel, and others view it? Different characters go north throughout the novel, as opposed to staying in their hometown. What are the results, and what are we to make of Jo’s decision to ultimately make a home in West Mills?