Snakebite Lake at first light

East Texas · Novels

Small towns. Deep secrets. Stories that stir.

Stories of small-town Texas where the past never stays buried.

Debut novel · What Smoke Creek Kept

What Smoke Creek Kept cover

Debut novel

What Smoke Creek Kept

by Michael Thorn

A confession. A drowning. A town built on the wrong story.

Smoke Creek has lived with its version of Ruth Ann Pruitt’s death for twenty years — a tragic accident, a life cut short, a community that moved on. But when a respected deacon confesses to causing her death, Pastor Elias Ward is forced to confront a truth that doesn’t fit the past he remembers.

Cassie Pruitt returns home determined to uncover what really happened to her mother. Elias wants to help her — but every answer exposes another lie, another betrayal, another piece of Smoke Creek’s carefully protected history.

The shelf

Three novels. One out.

What Smoke Creek Kept is available now. Where Did the Fireflies Go and The Last Swing are coming next.

The author

From East Texas

Michael Thorn lives in East Texas.

A former soldier and minister, he writes fiction rooted in the ordinary lives and quiet places of the region.

He is the author of What Smoke Creek Kept and Where Did the Fireflies Go.

About Michael

Letters to the Creek

Have a question about the books, a story of your own, want to book an event, or just want to say hello? Send a letter — I’d love to hear from you.

Write a letter