All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
What's It About?
A Black sheriff, a serial killer and a small town ready to combust make this the crime novel of the summer.“It’s surreal in many ways,” says Shawn “S.A.” Cosby. “A few years ago, literally, nobody knew my name.”
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, perhaps you missed Cosby’s meteoric rise to the top of bestsellerdom and his raw, rural, and racially rooted depictions of Southern Black life and angst. His latest, All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books), is just his fourth published novel. His second, Asphalt Wasteland and third Razorblade Tears, caught the world’s attention and hit the rarified air of the bestseller Stratosphere. Both are now being made into major motion pictures of similar elevation.
Even former President Barrack Obama placed Cosby’s work on his summer reading list. It’s every writer’s dream and Cosby is suddenly living it. “It’s heady stuff, but at the same time, it’s a little stressful,” Cosby admits.
All the Sinners Bleed, launched June 6, is different than his previous novels. He described those as Southern Noir. This is his first venture into writing a who-done-it. “It’s my first Southern Gothic novel,” he says. “It was something I wanted to write but was frankly afraid to tackle.”
Sinners begins with a school shooting and white deputies killing a Black murder suspect. Almost immediately, the story shifts to a serial killer in Charon County in rural southern Virginia. Sheriff Titus Crown, a former FBI agent who became the county’s first Black elected sheriff after moving back to the area, has the unenviable task of calming racial tensions, maintaining a romantic relationship when an old flame appears, dealing with local religious leaders, and living with his father — all while trying to find a serial murderer.
“The thing I hope people take away from it — in addition to religion — is family bonds. Family bonds can be the balm against the world.”
“This is the first time I’ve delved into the actual community I was raised in,” Cosby says. Fictional Charon County mirrors Mathews County on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia where he grew up and still lives. “I think it’s my best book and I could be honest about the place … It’s not a condemnation but a love letter. My criticism comes from a place of deep affection… It’s a very honest portrait of where we come from.”
Charon is typical of many communities where everyone shows up for church in their Sunday best and pious masks, only to return home and shed the pretense for the remainder of the week. The title tells you something. All the Sinners Bleed takes a peek at the ugly core of organized religion, family secrets, child abuse, racism and white supremacy.
Cosby weaves all of these themes into his tale of a serial killer who has been roaming the backroads of Charon County for a long time and no one was aware until a teacher is shot at the local high school. While investigating that crime, Sheriff Crown discovers another more sinister atrocity and he is unrelenting in his effort at chasing down the man he calls the Lone Wolf.
In so doing, his investigation threatens his love life, his family life, his own life, and those of many others in the community. As always, Cosby has created something special.
And up to this point, nearly everyone in his hometown wanted to be a character in his crime novels. “They appreciate it, but not as many people wanted to be in the serial killer novel.”
His latest book was influenced by many stories including the first season of “True Detective” on HBO. Cosby was sick in bed and his wife gave him the entire first season to binge-watch. “It was just remarkable.” Then he read Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects. And shortly thereafter George Floyd was murdered. He wanted to write about police corruption, but “I was too close. Nobody wants a 300-page sermon. So, I started looking at Southern Gothic and religion.”
He wrote a synopsis of his idea and began to work on his manuscript. While he describes his writing style as more of a pantser than a plotter, he usually creates a short synopsis for each novel before writing because it “helps keep me on track.”
“This was the first book where I had to get a white board for my red herrings. It was more structurally intense. I had to make sure I was crafting a story confidently. When you’re writing an actual mystery, it’s hard.”
And he learned from author and producer Jordan Harper to “always make sure the reveal is a doozy.”
All of his success, however, hasn’t changed him. Yes, he can travel more, and he’s bought a few things. But he returns to his rural roots when it’s time to write. “I like living where I live. I like getting up in the morning and going on the back deck and feeding the squirrels.”
He doesn’t consider himself a big fish in his rural small pond in Virginia, and still loves things like running into his seventh-grade teacher “seeing me in Walmart and telling me she’s proud of me.”
“On a personal level, I just love the support I get at home from my family and friends … Home is a safe place for me. I have a hard time writing on the road. I gotta be home in my chair with my music playing, with my cat at my feet.”
Nearly all of his writing is done right there in his makeshift home office with a new easy chair he bought with his first royalty check. “I’m a died-in-the-wool dusty boot boy,” he says.
With all of his new earnings, he is considering building a new home. “I grew up really poor. The biggest thing I’ve learned is money doesn’t make you happy, but it does bring more problems.” However, he notes, “It’s an incredible sense of pride that my books have given us some financial stability.”
When he drove his new car into his driveway, he was crying. “I can’t believe my words bought this. I don’t think you can understate what that means. What I’ve slaved over is helping us. I don’t think it’s crass to say that.”
And he realizes how success could be fleeting, although few who read his novels are likely to believe that. “My mother used to say the shine wears off new pennies quick.” So, he is careful to try to not let money alter his life very much.
“I do worry about that. I don’t want to seem like I’m high on my horse … Enjoy it and treat people well while you’re shining,” he says. “I want to see everyone win.”
And that includes his fellow writers. “I try my best to help other writers because someone helped me. Craig Johnson said nice things. Dennis Lehane and Walter Moseley both said nice things. If I can return that favor to someone else, I’m sure going to do it.”
His readers, no doubt, think he already has.
About S. A. Cosby:
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
