In these turbulent times, the world needs more books like The Incredible Winston Browne. I didn’t just like this book–I loved it. Let’s head to a little town in Florida in the fifties where the Brooklynn Dodgers are king and a small-town sheriff starts seeing the best things in life. It isn’t exactly the idyllic Mayberry, but a Mayberry for this century’s readers. I hated to see this book end but even the ending was full-on wonderful.

About the Book

Beloved writer Sean Dietrich—also known as Sean of the South—will warm your heart with this rich and nostalgic tale about community, kindness, and the meaning of the everyday incredible.

In the small, sleepy town of Moab, Florida, folks live for ice cream socials, Jackie Robinson, and the local paper’s weekly gossip column. For decades, Sheriff Winston Browne has watched over Moab with a generous eye, and by now he’s used to handling the daily dramas that keep life interesting for Moab’s quirky residents. But just after Winston receives some terrible, life-altering news, a feisty little girl with mysterious origins shows up in his best friend’s henhouse. Suddenly Winston has a child in desperate need of protection—as well as a secret of his own to keep.

With the help of Moab’s goodhearted townsfolk, the humble and well-meaning Winston Browne still has some heroic things to do. He finds romance, family, and love in unexpected places. He stumbles upon adventure, searches his soul, and grapples with the past. In doing so, he just might discover what a life well-lived truly looks like.

“Sean Dietrich has written a home run of a novel with The Incredible Winston Browne. Every bit as wonderful as its title implies, it’s the story of Browne—a principled, baseball-loving sheriff—a precocious little girl in need of help, and the community that rallies around them. This warm, witty, tender novel celebrates the power of friendship and family to transform our lives. It left me nostalgic and hopeful, missing my grandfathers, and eager for baseball season to start again. I loved it.” —Ariel Lawhon, New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia

“Make no mistake. [The Incredible Winston Browne] is a classic story, told by an expert storyteller.” —Shawn Smucker, author of Light from Distant Stars

My Review

The Incredible Winston Browne is a slice of life in Moab, Florida during the fifties. The Dodgers have a chance at the World Series and Sheriff Winston Browne, a man with chocolate coins in his pocket, and a love for Mark Twain is finding life anew. He has been given the ultimate diagnosis of lung cancer, one that doesn’t slow down his love for Lucky cigarettes and now he’s beginning to live life as it should be. He’s a town patriarch who coaches the little league team, helps the young man whose grandfather is an alcoholic and pays attention to the town spinster. It’s about old friendships and new and the value of living life to the fullest. I loved this story and the beautiful way Sean Dietrich told it. The reader feels the heat, the mugginess, sees the anxious faces of the little leaguers, and sees love in the eyes of a woman unloved. Beautiful and uplifting. I obtained this book from Net Galley and have left an honest review.

Read Teresa’s second book in the Piney Woods Series, A Sneeze to Die For.

Nora Alexander has sunk her inheritance into the Tunie Hotel, in Piney Woods, Texas. Now there is a chance that her first major booking, a national cat lovers’ conference called Meow Meet-Up, will help her bottom line. It also presents increasing risk for its financial demise. Pushy reporter Alan Shaw shows up the day before the event, making trouble for Nora and the conference. When Shaw is later found dead in the bottom of the hotel’s faulty elevator shaft, Nora depends upon boyfriend and police officer, Tuck Watson, to investigate and save the Tunie Hotel’s reputation.

A Sneeze to Die for is available on Amazon, Apple, Kobo and Barnes and Noble.