Mighty

A romping and rearing all-American epic: one failing dairyman’s search for true love, self-worth, and answers surrounding the murder of his wayward father—éminence grise and namesake of Mighty, Wyoming

Bartholomew “BeeBee” Byrd has struck a deal with the devil. That devil happens to be his father, Mighty Turner, a former itinerant preacher who’s left a trail of bastard children in his wake. For five more years, Mighty will continue to fund BeeBee’s struggling dairy farm, as long as he supplies a prime steer for each of Mightys infamous yearly luaus.

When, at the fifth and final luau, Mighty turns up dead, BeeBee begins frantically writing to the CIA, addressing his plaintive letters to “Faceless Shadow.” But he’s not after the truth behind his father’s murder. What BeeBee really wants is any and all information regarding the whereabouts of “Yugoslavian” exchange student, Nikki Dizdarevic, who “coincidentally” disappeared the night of the murder. She may or may not have committed the crime, but she’s most certainly the love of his life.

Written in BeeBee’s cracked, courtly voice, the letters pile up into a bizarre and beguiling dossier, a tangle of personal history, family lore, and state secrets. It’s all too strange—and too sincere—for the CIA to ignore: bank heists and bomb shelters, wolf attacks and astral projections, major conspiracies and minor poets, a vanished hippie commune and a high-security-clearance grandmother with a background in brainwashing.

Mighty is a novel of a thousand joys—a tug-of-war between love and doom—and one only Bud Smith could write.