Peanut Elegy

An Appalachian Tale

By: E.B. Harding

Narrated by: Gabriel Malé

In the small Appalachian town of Pine Hollow, the economic decline and simmering tensions between locals and newcomers have left the community on edge. The Caldwell brothers—Mike and Danny—are struggling to make ends meet after their father’s death in a mining accident and the closure of the town’s lifeline, the local coal mine. Desperate to get back at Mike’s ex-wife’s new husband, Mark, and make some quick cash, the brothers hatch a plan to rob his hardware store, dragging their cousin Jimmy Combs along for the ride.

But what starts as a simple burglary quickly spirals out of control when Jimmy accidentally shoots himself while trying to break open a locked storage cage. In their panic, Mike and Danny concoct a bizarre plan to cover their tracks: they’ll smear peanut butter on Jimmy’s body to attract animals, hoping it will destroy the evidence. Things go from bad to worse when Danny, who has a peanut allergy, accidentally falls into the peanut-butter-covered corpse, sending the brothers racing to the hospital.

As the brothers scramble to keep their crime hidden, Deputy Sara Blake quietly begins connecting the dots. New to Pine Hollow and eager to make a difference, Sara has her own reasons for being in this forgotten town, far from the city life she left behind. Her investigation into the hardware store break-in, coupled with her instincts about the Caldwell brothers’ suspicious behavior, leads her deeper into a web of secrets, guilt, and desperation.

As the police close in and the brothers struggle to stay ahead of the law, Sara must unravel the truth about what really happened that night before the fragile calm of Pine Hollow shatters completely. Tensions mount, alliances fray, and the lines between right and wrong blur, culminating in a haunting exploration of guilt, survival, and the consequences of choices made in the heat of the moment.

Peanut Elegy is a darkly comedic crime story about small-town life, family loyalty, and the lengths people will go to.

©2024 E.B. Harding (P)2024 E.B. Harding