Southern Man

Set 15 years after the events of Iles’s “Natchez Burning” trilogy, the latest Penn Cage novel finds retired attorney and former mayor of Natchez Penn Cage at his mother’s deathbed. She spent the last year of her life researching family history and now reveals a secret in her manuscript. Political corruption is rife in town. Race relations are tense. A mass shooting by police at a peaceful music festival starts a spiral of violence, arson, and murder. Conservative radio host and war hero Robert “Bobby” E. White plans to win the White House in 2027 as a third-party candidate. With financing and support from the Poker Club, a local white cabal, Bobby hatches a deadly plan to set the stage for his victory. Only Penn and his daughter, Annie, stand in his way. In this 46-hour extravaganza, Iles attempts to address every issue facing Americans today. Though narrator Scott Brick offers an enthusiastic performance, listeners may struggle to follow the jam-packed timeline. Sidebars about cancer, architecture, and war—both at home and abroad—add further complications until the story’s central point is buried.