The Spirit of Phantom Ridge (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781631322525)

Jeff Spires's The Spirit of Phantom Ridge fuses supernatural suspense with hard-hitting historical fiction. In 1899 Missouri, Black sharecropper Peter is abducted by vigilantes and lynched on a hill soon dubbed Phantom Ridge; his restless soul mutates into an eight-legged specter that hunts each man in the mob. Eighty-nine years later, he faces a graver trial of conscience: Jerome Manning, a falsely accused Black father, is railroaded toward execution by a civic leader desperate to bury the town's sins. Peter must decide whether vengeance or mercy will finally break the century-long curse-and whether ordinary people can rise to meet that choice. The result is a riveting dual-timeline tale that blends the dread of The Green Mile with the moral heft of The Underground Railroad. Readers will fly through its cinematic chapters, yet the novel's piercing questions about justice, race, and forgiveness linger-ideal for book-club debates, classroom discussion, and eye-catching store displays. Stock it prominently and hand-sell it boldly; once patrons step onto Phantom Ridge, they'll press this story into friends' hands and come back asking for more.