Product Description

A woman of the law. Sensible, capable, and always in control, Leigh Mitchell is the local sheriff of her sleepy Indiana home town. But Leigh is turning thirty and feeling restless. Something needs to change. She needs to change. So when a sexy stranger asks her to ride the Ferris wheel one moonlit night, she takes a leap of faith-and falls for Will Scott, dangerous secrets and all. By turns passionate and tender, Will reveals little about his past and less about his future, even when the town suspects him of committing a terrible crime. Now on the uncertain back roads of life, take-charge Leigh must learn to let go-and trust not only the cold dictates of the law but the hot-blooded demands of her heart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89558 in eBooks
• Published on: 2008-03-17
• Released on: 2008-03-17
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

About the Author
Back Roads is Susan Crandall's debut novel. In her first career, she was a dental hygienist. However, her love of reading soon expanded into a love of writing and she left her gentle tools of torture behind and began to pen novels. After spending several years in the big city (Chicago), she returned to the Indiana town where she grew up. There she and her husband share their home with two children, a rock band (in the basement), and an eighty pound labsky (half-black lab, half husky).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
If you stand in one place long enough, your shadow will move on without you. As the sun and moon arc overhead, the dark silhouette of your body slips silently across the ground, anchored only by the souls of your feet. Leigh Mitchell had seen herself thus, standing stock still on the courthouse square of the southern Indiana town where she'd been born, as her shadow and her life, slid slowly and unremarkably by.

She'd been county sheriff for two years, elected against all odds, she felt, because of her brothers' lifelong popularity in their community. Not that she wasn't qualified; she was. But there was a certain pecking order in law enforcement. She'd bucked the system and won. Still, the tedium of drunken teenagers, games of mailbox baseball, speed traps, and old man Grissom's constant calls about UFOs hovering over his corn field were wearing unbearibly thin.

Her thirtieth birthday had settled on the horizon, hunched like a stone gargoyle, dismally staring her in the face. In everything around her, she saw the quiet accusation: you are wasting time. A sense of near panic took root in her belly as the blossoms of spring gave way to the rustling green leaves of summer. By the Fourth of July, the fruit of that seed sent tendrils of dread squeezing her windpipe.

Her restlessness occasionally threatened to take over her good sense entirely. But it was nearly autumn before she gave in to it, driven by the certainty that if her life didn't change, she'd end up as withered and dusty as the parched ground under her feet.

Still, had she known the crosswinds from that malcontented summer were going to blow in the fall from hell, she'd have gladly remained dull and dusty.

The diesel could enveloped Will as the truck driver pulled away from the intersection. He stood on the side of a dark two lane highway with all of his earthly possessions crammed into a road-worn backpack, deciding which direction to take. Heart warred with head, his good sense telling him not to venture down this road. It had been paved with good times on his previous visit, why take the chance on ruining it? But he'd been pulled across the miles by the innocent and secure memories engraved during the one carefree summer of his youth. How he longed for the simple comfort of familiar surroundings, of childhood dreams yet to be born, and to be, even for the briefest time, away from the ugliness that stained his adult world.

The shroud of exhaust cleared, and there before him was the sign: GLENS CROSSING 4 MI. Will looked at the red taillights of the truck receding into the night, then in the direction of town.

He'd just walk a little closer, camp nearby, then decide in the morning. Tonight, painful thoughts of his current situation made it far too easy to crawl back into the past. The darkness had a way of distorting both past and present, making them more hideous and more marvelous than they actually were. In the light, he could see things more clearly -- the horror of the last months less pronounced, the delights of the one wonderful summer less remarkable.

He walked a good part of the way toward the town. His aching feet told him he'd covered over two miles, when it caught his eye. There, across the wide open expanse of a bean field, rose the lighted spokes of a Ferris wheel. A harvest moon, so large and low in the sky it appeared to be painted on the black of night, sat on the horizon, seemingly side by side with the carnival ride. A filmy haze sent three gray fingers across the enormous golden disk. One of those fingers was crooked and beckoning.

Well, hell. A sign? The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and rose as the skin at the base of his skull tightened. Had he been thirty minutes later, that moon would have been up in the sky where it belonged, away from the thin clouds, the inviting golden light brightened to a cold blue-white.

Instead of being calmed by the thought of divine intervention, he sighed heavily with the weight of too many miles, too many memories. He closed his eyes briefly and told himself, once again, to wait.

Tomorrow. A word which had for the past four months become his mantra.

He glanced around, looking for a good place to bed down for the night, and heard the steady thrum of a sub-whoofer pounding ever nearer. A long minute passed before he saw the headlights of the car.

It sped past him, the reverberation from the speakers battering him in the chest. He watched it pass, wondering how the hearing of the car's occupant could ever recover. Immediately, the brake lights brightened and the car slowed. The driver slammed the car into reverse before the tires stopped rolling forward, adding a squeal to the bass and the smell of burnt rubber to the air.

The car stopped in front of him, nearly rolling over his toes. The tinted window came down and a girl in her late teens leaned across the passenger seat. For a moment his heart skipped a beat. If he didn't know she was dead, he'd have sworn he was looking at his sister, Jenny -- same shoulder-length brown hair, same tilt to the green eyes.

Then the girl smiled and the eerie similarity disappeared, the smile too wide, the lips too full.

"Need a ride?"

He started to tell her no when she added, "I'm just going to the carnival, but I can give you a lift that far."

The carnival. The Ferris wheel. Well, damn, he didn't have to be hit over the head to get the picture. He was destined to walk the streets of Glens Crossing once again.

Customer Reviews

An Entertaining Debut Novel
Leigh Mitchell, the sheriff in Glens Crossing, Indiana, is fast approaching her thirtieth birthday. She would like to make changes in her life before it passes her by. She is not sure how to make those changes though until she meets Will Scott, a stranger passing through town. She meets him at the festival talking to Brittany Wilson, a town teenager. Leigh and Will ride the Ferris Wheel together then afterwards head to the local bar where they dance together, creating a scene for the townsfolk. Leigh believes Will could be the answer to her discovering a new self. A few days later when tragedy strikes the small town and Will is the prime suspect Leigh is torn between believing her heart and her experience in law enforcement.

Back Roads was a good book. This debut novel by Susan Crandall was well written with an excellent storyline and very believable characters. The story moves along at a good pace (with the exception of a few parts) and keeps teasing you until the end. Just when you think you know who Will Scott is Ms. Crandall throws you off course with suspicion.

I was pleased with the detail in this book. Even though it is a work of fiction the author included some "true" details. She talks of Bloomington, IN and the Hoosier National Forrest. Also included was the mention of the tv station from Indianapolis, channel 6. These details being included made the story more authentic, especially to someone from Indiana.

All in all this was a good story to read. It has romance and suspense well blended to make a very entertaining read. With more books like Back Roads this author is well on her way to being a well-known bestseller.

Excellent Read! Couldn't tell it was a debut
I read this in one sitting. Will Scott. Leigh Mitchell. Both were very believable characters. Sub-characters were lacking, but not enough to detract from the beauty of the story.

Will is on the run. He is hurting. He is real. He chooses the right, based on the information that he has.

Leigh is on the verge of becoming. She is good, solid, and mature.

They are good for each other. Strong enough to love, protect, and support one another. Mature enough to stand alone when need be.

I will definitely read Ms. Crandall's next offering: The Road Home.

GREAT first book
I really enjoyed this book. It kept my interest all the way through the book. I ordered her other books but I am not that big of a fan for sequel books. But we shall see. Leigh was a 3D character, that you found yourself holding your breath that she would come out on top. Same with Will Scott. I believe that you will enjoy this book.