The Miner's Myth (Paperback)

Sometimes the Devil you know is better than the one you don’t.

That’s a hard truth Sheriff Mary Beth Cain is reluctantly coming to terms with. After ridding Southern West Virginia of her mother, Mamie’s, hillbilly crime syndicate, Mary Beth has created a power vacuum that’s filled by a better-financed and much more ruthless drug operation headquartered out of Detroit. The Motor-City mobsters are led by Leonard Velino, a vicious killer with a long history of intimidating or eliminating all who oppose him. Witnesses. Jurors. Even cops. Velino is a man the legal system simply isn’t equipped to handle.

But Sheriff Cain has never been much constrained by the rules herself. And she has certainly never backed down from a fight. She is willing to go to any lengths to deal with her Detroit problem. The question is: Can Mary Beth protect her community without becoming a criminal herself?

What folks are saying...

“Russell W. Johnson writes like a man setting fire to the rulebook and dancing in the glow. The Miner’s Myth is a mud-splattered, bourbon-soaked gut punch of a mystery, a high-octane Appalachian noir where justice ain’t always clean, but it sure as hell is satisfying. Sheriff Mary Beth Cain is the kind of protagonist you don’t just root for—you follow into battle. Gritty, sharp, and impossible to put down.”

—Eryk Pruitt author of Something Bad Wrong and Blood Red Summer

“In The Miner’s Myth, Russell W. Johnson adds another piece to his sprawling Appalachian quilt, chronicling the hard-nosed exploits of West Virginia Sheriff Mary Beth Cain. At turns gritty, funny, and bloody, Johnson’s latest features an indelible rogue’s gallery of characters and the rugged rural community they call home, recalling not only Brian Panowich’s Bull Mountain, but the works of David Joy and Greg Iles. Don’t miss it…”

—J. Todd Scott Author of Lost River

“There is the law In Jasper County, and then there is Sheriff Mary Beth Cain’s law. Mary Beth isn’t so much concerned about the law as she is about Justice. She’ll roam the hills and the hollers to get it in Russell W. Johnson’s latest Mountaineer Mystery book. The Miner’s Myth runs Mary Beth perilously fast through the switchbacks of her outlaw family and an outside criminal organization, and the brakes have come off.”

—Rob Smith, author of Good Looking Ugly

“Russell Johnson has done it again! Leaping effortlessly between excitement, adventure, and good ol’ fashioned fun, The Miner’s Myth cements Sheriff Mary Beth Cain as one of fiercest characters in any mystery today. When a Detroit heavyweight invades her small town, Mary Beth doesn’t hesitate to go toe-to-toe with his thugs. After all, big city gangsters are no match for a woman born and bred in the state of West—by God—Virginia!”

—J.G. Hetherton, author of Last Girl Gone and What Lies Beneath

“With The Miner’s Myth, Russell W. Johnson brings to a close one of the finest mystery trilogies in recent memory. Over the course of this series, which started with the explosive The Moonshine Messiah, Sheriff Mary Beth Cain has evolved into such a complex and compelling protagonist. This third book is definitely the most personal for the main character and employs a unique structure that keeps the reader guessing, as well as turning pages. The finale is so damn satisfying, even though I am personally sad to say goodbye to all these wonderful characters. The Miner’s Myth—which is equal parts Elmore Leonard and John Grisham—is one of the year’s most entertaining reads that stands on its own, but is all the more satisfying for readers of the entire Mountaineer trilogy. I cannot recommend this novel enough.”

—Casey Stegman, writer of “Murder in the First” column for Mystery Tribune.