A triple homicide in the fictional town of West Mills, North Carolina sets the scene for De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s second novel, Decent People.

If West Mills might sound familiar, it’s because Winslow’s first novel, In West Mills, was listed for—and won—numerous literary prizes in 2019.
Although his newest release uses the same setting, it’s a completely new story that doesn’t require having read In West Mills.
I recently spoke with De’Shawn Charles Winslow about the fictional town, some of the surprises he found when writing the mystery, and how readers might recognize some of their own biases.
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Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow was published by Bloomsbury.
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