The murder ballad holds a rock-solid position in US roots music and the Great American Songbook for decades. Telling the stories of sometimes true and often not-so-true-crimes and other horrific events, they are raw stories full of unrequited love, betrayal, life, and death. The song form stems from the Anglo-Saxon ballad tradition, where stories were orally passed on to a mostly illiterate population. Dutch cartoonist Erik Kriek was inspired by five old and new murder ballads — including songs by modern masters such as Nick Cave, Steve Earle, and Gillian Welch — and used them as a launching point for five special and ruthless graphic narratives that dig deep into the darkness of Americana, in which guns and religion maintain an uneasy balance.

Read the series that inspired Three Pines on Prime Video. From the #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny comes the second Armand Gamache mystery set in the stunning countryside of Quebec. Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel! Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder. No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed? With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

Love sucks, and Philo Harris is going to do something about it. After a particularly bad drunken decision gives him the ability to see the Cupidae, the creatures that make love work, Philo ends up going to war with love itself. With a chainsaw. Collects DEATH OF LOVE #1-5

The next novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times bestselling series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

From critically acclaimed author, Susan C. Shea, comes Love & Death in Burgundy, an atmospheric mystery novel filled with good Chablis, french cheese, and, of course, murder. After three years of living in the small town of Reigny-sur-Canne, all Katherine Goff really wants is to be accepted by her neighbors into their little community. But as an American expat living in the proud region of Burgundy, that’s no easy task. When the elderly Frenchman who lives in the village chateau is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the town is turned into a hot bed of gossip and suspicion, and Katherine suddenly finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into the small town’s secrets. A motherless teenager, a malicious French widow, a brash music producer, and a would-be Agatha Christie are among those caught up in a storm that threatens to turn Katherine’s quiet life upside down. As more and more of the villagers' secrets are brought to light, Katherine must try to figure out who, if anyone, in the town she can trust, and which one of her neighbors just might be a killer.

For those looking to deepen their appreciation of Flannery O'Connor, Wood shows how this literary icon's stories, novels, and essays impinge on America's cultural and ecclesial condition.

Read the series that inspired Three Pines on Prime Video. The Cruelest Month is the third book in Louise Penny's award winning Three Pines mystery series featuring the wise and beleaguered Inspector Armand Gamache. "Many mystery buffs have credited Louise Penny with the revival of the type of traditional murder mystery made famous by Agatha Christie ... " -Sarah Weinman Welcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat. It's spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . . When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil---until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along? Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.

Legends are somewhat deceitful. Leaving no room for sequels. Books never written. Stories never told. Until now. It is the late 1800s, and Paul Cunningham is about to establish himself as one of the most iconic American folklore figures of all time by logging his way through the northern United States. What he doesn't realize is the ruinous cost of his conquest. The Man in the Pines is the reimagined life story of the famous American folk legend, Paul Bunyan. It is a tale of demi-god strength, love lost, hubris, and destruction. It is a story of conservation and, hopefully, redemption. It is the life of Paul Bunyan you've never heard before.