"High White Sun"

J. Todd Scott was born in rural Kentucky and attended college and law school in Virginia, where he set aside an early ambition to write to pursue a career as a federal agent. His assignments have taken him all over the U.S and the world, but a badge and gun never replaced his passion for books and writing. He now resides in the American Southwest, and when he’s not hunting down very bad men, he’s hard at work on his next book.

His debut novel, The Far Empty, was published in 2016.

Scott applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, High White Sun, and reported the following:

One of the themes of High White Sun, and really, the whole series, is how Sheriff Chris Cherry struggles with the authority and responsibility that’s been thrust upon him. This plays out over page 69, which is the culmination of an on-going argument between Chris and county attorney Royal Moody over Chris’s handling of the murder investigation that kicks off the novel; in fact, it’s emblematic of a deeper disagreement over Chris’s fitness to wear a badge and carry a gun. Chris had zero law enforcement experience before becoming a deputy, and now, sheriff, and if a football injury hadn’t derailed his college plans and possible pro career, he never would have returned home to Murfee, Texas. Living in the shadow of the venerated (but corrupt) former sheriff, Stanford “Judge” Ross, Chris only wants to uphold the law and modernize the Big Bend County Sheriff’s Department. It’s a noble ambition, but with very little support from the community, and threats seemingly everywhere, it’s one he’s afraid he’ll never fully realize.

High White Sun is a big, brawling, violent book, and although this scene is one of the “quieter” ones, it’s powerful because it shows that not all of Chris’s enemies carry guns, and not all of his troubles lurk in the desert surrounding Murfee.

Visit J. Todd Scott's website.

--Marshal Zeringue