Brendan Yates, an BBC researcher based in Manchester, England, has written a novel that’s set on Route 66 and the town of Tucumcari, N.M.
Several retail websites are not carrying a street date for the book yet, but it is available for pre-order in the United Kingdom.
According to an article in the Quay County Sun:
In a phone conversation, Yates emphasized that his book and its characters are strictly fictional. A trip through Route 66 two years ago brought him to Tucumcari, which inspired him to use the city for his novel’s setting.
“I noticed a lot of very welcoming motels that seem to go out of their way to be very friendly and tell people about the history of the town,” Yates said.
Here’s a plot description of “Devil’s Dust” from Amazon:
“It was to be the trip of a lifetime. Yet what lay in store would change them forever. Friendship, hedonism and wanderlust compel Mancunians Conrad, Rob, Will and Paul to visit the US at a confusing time. With the Iraq war petering out and the prospect of a recession about to break their trip culminates in the dark heart of New Mexico where primeval traditions and internecine disuptes rage on. Their sanitised view of American culture: poker, hot dogs and skyscrapers – is replaced with horrific ancient rituals and the kidnap of one of their number. To save him the others must win big in Vegas…”
The novel is published by Empire Publications, a British company.