{"product_id":"fester-descent-crawford-smith-9781733269988","title":"Fester Descent","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwenty years after \u003cem\u003eFester\u003c\/em\u003e, the town is still running on inertia and bad decisions. Everyone assumes things will work themselves out. They never do.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBolly Bollinger is trying to keep his father's auto shop afloat while the town's last old-money family keeps raising the rent. His stress relief is a local tradition known as a \"zoo run.\" He roars past the Schmidt mansion at top speed, flips off history, and pretends that counts as control. One night, the response is a gunshot. Bolly survives, but the consequences don't stop there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Candy Troutman-an informant at Mike's Place, Fester's notorious brothel-is found murdered in her bathtub, Chief Constable Martin Prieboy moves to contain the damage. He wants answers quickly, order restored, and the town reassured. Instead, he gets a case that resists simplicity and rewards the wrong assumptions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the investigation tightens, Fester looks elsewhere. A failing shopping mall stumbles into viral fame after a Fourth of July Fun Fair triggers supposed hauntings and an influx of ghost hunters. The events may even involve a long-dead Native American. No one agrees. Everyone has an opinion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, a volatile heir to a dying dynasty retreats into weapons, paranoia, and his three pet monkeys. A disgraced former chief isolates himself with a Vietnam-era tank. The town keeps moving, convinced that spectacle counts as progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCaught between economic pressure, civic certainty, and a system that refuses to slow down, Bolly and Martin find themselves on opposite sides of momentum that no longer cares who gets crushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFester Descent is a darkly comic crime novel about small-town justice, institutional stubbornness, and the comfort of bad answers. Savage, satirical, and escalating with gleeful inevitability, it proves that in Fester, the truth isn't hidden-it's just less entertaining than the alternative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Crawford Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1733269983\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781733269988\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Sweet Weasel Words\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/28\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 346\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.02lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.77d","brand":"Crawford Smith","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48520260452607,"sku":"9781733269988","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0d35a84b-77c5-48a0-9c0c-f2d57544ea9d.jpg?v=1778741692","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/fester-descent-crawford-smith-9781733269988","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}