Summer 1936, Wilkes County, North Carolina during the great depression. The Flagg family resides in the middle of the Appalachia - one of the hardest hit areas in the country. As the depression drags on the Flagg family watch their molasses business decimated. Jedediah, the family patriarch and his sons Morgan and Ezra struggle to produce a few meager gallons a week. That is until their sister Ava arrives home and takes control of the family business and starts running moonshine. Ava bails out ex-con Bobby Barlow and tells him he is working for the Flagg family now. With threats mounting from rival clans and the local cops breathing down Bobby's neck, he and Ava devise a plan to play them all, one against the other. They don't necessarily do it by legal means but that doesn't bother them. To live outside the law, you must be honest.

Internationally acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Brad Smith is the author of twelve novels, including The Return Of Kid Cooper, winner of the 2019 Spur Award from the Western Writers of America; One-Eyed Jacks, shortlisted for the Dashiell Hammett Award, and All Hat, which has been adapted to a feature film.

Smith's writing draws on his wellspring of experiences working across Canada, the U.S.A., and Africa at a variety of jobs--including railway signalman, carpenter, bartender, truck driver, ditch digger, school teacher, farmer, maintenance electrician and roofer. He now lives in a 90-year-old farmhouse in southern Ontario.

• Dashiell Hammett Prize 2023, Short-listed

"Brad Smith does it again with Copperhead Road. Writing that smacks of Larry McMurtry--great plot driven by fascinating characters and clever dialogue just speeds along. My only regret is that I finished it too quickly. " - Ian Hamilton

"Filled with twists and turns--this compelling tale set in the Great Depression is one you won't be able to put down. " - Jill Downie, author of the Moretti and Falla mysteries