Welcome

Welcome to my world, at least the world of my books. If you’re looking for something to help you return to those dark, mysterious nights on a college campus… or spooky visits to a cemetery, always looking over your shoulder… or into the private worlds of Truman Capote and Harper Lee… or back to the nostalgia of small town America, with weekly trips to the drive-in and the local movie theater… if you want to walk through fall leaves all year round and get that chill that the early dark brings… you’ve come to the right place.

Rules for Being Dead

Now Available in Paperback!

It’s the late 1960s in small-town McKinney, Texas. At the downtown theater and the local drive-in, movies—James Bond, My Fair Lady, Alfie, and Dr. Zhivago—feed the dreams and obsessions of a ten-year-old Clarke who loves Audrey, Elvis, his family, serial killers, Truman Capote, and the handsome boy in the projector booth. Then Clarke loses his beloved mother, and no one will tell him how she died. No one will tell HER either. She is floating above the trees and movie screens of McKinney, trapped between life and death, searching for a glimpse of her final moments on this earth. The shattering answer haunts Rules for Being Dead, Kim Powers’ darkly humorous, incredibly moving novel, reminiscent of The Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, with a nod to Larry McMurtry’s iconic The Last Picture Show.

Praise

“Blending late-’60s nostalgia with a supernatural mystery, Powers’s emotionally complex tale gets the job done just right.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Powers expertly characterizes coming-of-age children who have lost their mother and adults buried under mistakes and mistrust… culminating in a powder keg of an ending that no one, including the reader, expects.”
—Lone Star Literary

“Secrets are revealed, hope is lost and found, and redemption awaits in this beautifully rendered tale about love and loss, and the courage to face the truth with an open heart.”
—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of Tony’s Wife

“In a story that’s both cagey and unfailingly entertaining, Powers explores life’s deepest questions and most profound mysteries.”
—Wally Lamb, author of She’s Come Undone

“The brilliantly talented Kim Powers has created a poignant and remarkable story.”
—Hank Phillippi Ryan, Mary Higgins Clark, Anthony and five-time Agatha Award Winner

“The narrative is laced with nostalgic references that bring to life a forgotten time. All these elements come together to create a vibrant backdrop to the story of one family’s unexpected loss and journey toward healing.”
—John Searles, bestselling author of Help For the Haunted and Strange But True

“I love the wicked humor and unexpected tenderness… The results are intriguing and unpredictable.”
—Robin Miura, senior editor, Blair