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These eight stories range in length from flash fiction to novella. In “Incident at Blue Nose Creek,” an investigator pursues a suspect for the serial murders of three saloon girls. In “Visitors in Cantera,” the narrator receives a visit from questionable relatives. In “In the Breaks,” a girl goes deer hunting with her grandfather and has to fend off unwelcome advances from a young man. In “Man of Trees,” a homesteader helps solve the murder of an old hobo. In “Night Horse,” a man is killed when his plan to avenge his brother’s death is thwarted, and the narrator has to fight for his life. In “Darkness in Burnett,” the main character leaves Burnett, but his conscience compels him to return and help find the killer. In “Buckskin Ruby,” a flashy stranger goes to work for a grading crew and exposes a murderer. In “Next to the Last Chance,” a ranch hand wants to get out of the criminal way of life, as does the gang leader’s woman, but the odds are against them.

And this one…….

The neighborhoods we live in impact our lives in so many ways: they determine who we know, what resources and opportunities we have access to, the quality of schools our kids go to, our sense of security and belonging, and even how long we live. Yet too many of us live in neighborhoods plagued by rising crime, school violence, family disintegration, addiction, alienation, and despair. Even the wealthiest neighborhoods are not immune; while poverty exacerbates these challenges, they exist in zip codes rich and poor, rural and urban, and everything in between. In Fragile Neighborhoods, fragile states expert Seth D. Kaplan offers a bold new vision for addressing social decline in America, one zip code at a time. By revitalizing our local institutions–and the social ties that knit them together–we can all turn our neighborhoods into places where people and families can thrive. Readers will meet the innovative individuals and organizations pioneering new approaches to everything from youth mentoring to affordable housing: people like Dreama, a former lawyer whose organization works with local leaders and educators in rural Appalachia to equip young people with the social support they need to succeed in school; and Chris, whose Detroit-based non-profit turns vacant school buildings into community resource hubs. Along the way, Kaplan offers a set of practical lessons to inspire similar work, reminding us that when change is hyperlocal, everyone has the opportunity to contribute.