Violet Richards: Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around, turn me around. Gonna keep on walking, keep on talking. Marching up to freedom land.

Those are the opening words to a song my sister Marigold sings around the house. Mississippi won’t do right by us. It’s 1964 and President Johnson signed a law that says we don’t have to go through the back doors of restaurants or sit on the back of the bus no more. But here in Jackson, white folks just decided they won’t follow that law. As far as I’m concerned, the president can sign as many laws as he wants. I’ve had enough of this town. I’m tired of people calling me all sorts of dirty names and labelling me a slut and a whore just because I like to have a good time. I’m a woman, just as good as any other. When Huxley Broadus laid his dirty hands on me, I decided I’d had more than enough of the south. Huxley rolled up on the wrong woman when he attacked me and now, he can explain to his maker why he ain’t walking on the earth no more. That’s the real reason I gotta get outta Jackson.

I just hate that I gotta leave Marigold behind. It’s only the two of us now that Momma and Papa are gone. I love her, but the police will be looking for me once they find Huxley’s body. I got a fella I been keeping company with – Dewey Leonard. He’s white and both of us could go to jail if anyone found out about us. He wants to move up north and get married. I just want him to get me outta Jackson. Pretty soon everybody will get what they want, even if they have to kill for it.

Marigold Richards: I’ve never been more hopeful in my life that we will finally get what is rightfully ours – the right to vote. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. Even though it’s the law of the land, white people here in Mississippi have decided that they will not abide by it. But working with all the incredible people that I do at the Mississippi Summer Project, I have hope that we will turn things around. Freedom Riders and everyone working on the Summer Project are risking their lives for the equality of my people. I can’t think of anything more worthwhile.

While all that is good news, personally, I am struggling. I just found out that I am pregnant. I am also unmarried. To make matters worse, when I told the father, he ran off. He left me alone to fend for myself and this baby. I don’t know what I’ll do. Being pregnant and unmarried means, I’ll be labelled a slut, a whore. I might even lose my job, the most important thing I’ve ever done in my life. I used to dream of going to law school one day, but after my parents died, that dream died too. My sister Violet doesn’t know about the baby. I bet if I told her she would tell me to forget about what people will say. Her favorite saying is “what other people think about me ain’t none of my business.” I love my sister dearly, but she’s never been in this position. She doesn’t know the anguish I feel. But I think I might have a plan. Morally, it’s probably not right, but at least my baby will have a proper name and won’t have to walk through the world labelled a bastard. It’s a plan that will give me what I want – respectability and a fresh start. Pretty soon everyone will get what they want, even if they have to lie for it.

Any Where You Run
Genre: Historical
Release: October 2022
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From the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets comes yet another gripping, suspenseful novel where, after the murder of a white man in Jim Crow Mississippi, two Black sisters run away to different parts of the country . . . but can they escape the secrets they left behind?

It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-one year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.

Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?

Two sisters on the run—one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him . . .

About the author
Wanda M. Morris is the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets, which won the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel and 2022 Georgia Author of the Year for Best First Novel. All Her Little Secrets was also nominated for the Anthony, the Macavity, the Strand Critics Award, and shortlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize.

Wanda is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color and serves on the Board of International Thriller Writers.

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