Give Us a Kiss

by Daniel Woodrell

Doyle Redmond is on the drift from a failed marriage and a floundering life, moving in an easterly direction in the Volvo he stole from his soon-to-be-ex-wife, heading for home: the red and rocky soil of the Ozarks where Redmonds have been farming and fighting since just after the Civil War. More than likely it was a mistake to stop off en route for a visit with his folks in Kansas City. It was hard to refuse when they asked him to ferret out his big brother back home in West Table, Mo., and charm (or strong-arm) him into giving himself up to the K. C. law. . And in the tradition of no good deed goes unpunished, Doyle's filial favor bites back. He isn't in West Table long before he finds himself in a lot more trouble than car theft, having committed manslaughter or murder on one of the Dolly clan. Dollys and Redmonds have been blood feuding for as long as memory serves, and no one in West Table was going to believe it was an accident. Least of all the Dollys. Acidly funny and so origin