Welcome to Picketwire

On the high plains of Southeast Colorado, nestled near the prehistoric tracks of dinosaurs and the slow curve of the Purgatoire River, lies the town of Picketwire-a place that welcomes the lost, the weary, and the delightfully strange. Founded by outlaws, visionaries, and merchants with secrets, this town in mythical Purgatory County is home to a liberal arts college, a penitentiary-turned-convent, and a cast of residents as unpredictable as the prairie wind.When famed playwright Howdy Hanks returns for the premiere of his latest drama, old tensions flare with billionaire Wylie Boone, whose family name is etched into Picketwire's foundations (and possibly someone else's land). More sparks fly as Jemma Lu Tuttle, owner of the town's largest business, sorts out her complicated relationship with both men and the discovery of her long lost son. Meanwhile, newly ordained minister Jane Takamoto stumbles upon a hidden chapter of history buried in the nearby canyonlands. As if all of this isn't enough Sister M's, a former prosecutor turned nun, finds herself running a modern-day underground railroad with the help of tour guide Tony Medrano, whose own family secrets may shake the foundations of Picketwire itself.Comic, poignant, and threaded with revelation, Welcome to Picketwire is a love letter to community, second chances, and the curious alchemy of belonging. It invites readers into a community where the past is never quite past, and the truth, like the land itself, is layered, stubborn, and full of surprises.