Kidnapping. Murder. Grass-roots justice.

When her father is shot down on the street in front of his office, college journalism professor Sarabeth Bingham abandons the world of academia to take over the weekly newspaper he left behind, and she soon discovers that marijuana-growing has corrupted the idyllic little Kentucky town where she grew up.

In the same way selling booze during Prohibition built organized crime empires, the easy riches of dope-growing has bred evil and greed like a fly breeds maggots. Sarabeth’s own cousin grows weed. She even finds herself falling for a handsome bourbon distillery owner she’s convinced is financing his business with an illegal fortune.

But after a kidnapping and brutal murder rock the community, Sarabeth heeds the words on the plaque that has hung above her father’s desk for as long as she can remember: “Don’t mess with a man who buys ink by the barrel!” In a blazing front page editorial, Sarabeth declares war on the marijuana-growing industry. Now, the growers have to shut her up—fast, before she brings the feds down on them. And the meanest dog in the dope-growing junkyard knows just how to do it. 

The fictional Home Grown is based on the real Cornbread Mafia, a criminal empire that sprung up in picturesque Marion County, Kentucky and grew into the largest illegal marijuana-growing operation in U.S. history. The novel is as tough, gritty and real as what actually happened to that little community because Ninie Hammon was the editor of the newspaper there, and was the target of intimidation, harassment and death threats when she broke the Cornbread Mafia story that made headlines all across America. Now, she’s turned that true story into a run-away-train fictional tale with neck-snapping twists and turns, ever-tightening suspense and an unforgettable ending that will have you flipping pages long into the night.