What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

In this novel, the main character - the sheriff - is slowly succumbing to blood poisoning. The first corpse turns up in a scarecrow. And at the dénouement, there's something about white-painted rocks used to mark the border of someone's yard.

What year did you read it, around? Author male or female? Paper book, ebook, other? Cover art? Standalone or part of a series? What time period (decade) is it set in?

Author was male, and I think he only had 2 novels to his credit at the time. Read it about 8 or 9 years ago, and it was a hardcover book. Cover art was a scarecrow, I think. Standalone. And contemporary - I can't pin it down to a decade, but recent. Very character-driven plot.

The Critic by Peter May?

Kris wrote: "The Critic by Peter May?"

No... but thanks for the suggestion.

Death on the Romney Marsh by Deryn Lake?

Pat, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

Did you check out Kris's suggestion @6?

Lobstergirl wrote: "Pat, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

Did you check out Kris's suggestion @6?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.

Sorry, I had stopped following this discussion. Eventually I found the book when the author (David Searcy) wrote another one - a book of essays. Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions!

This was the book (I was wrong about the cover): https://www.amazon.com/Last-Things-Da...

Lobstergirl wrote: "Lobstergirl wrote: "Pat, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

Did you check out Kris's suggestion @6?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned."

Oh great, thanks for letting us know.

Great! Glad you found your book, Pat. Here's the Goodreads link - Last Things by David Searcy.

Thank you, everyone! And BTW - if you like "a thinking person's horror story" - you'd enjoy this.