Small-town life and deadly secrets fill the pages Titus Benton’s debut novel “65560.” A native of Salem, Benton set the story in the Dent County town and titled the book for the area’s zip code. Although Benton says the book’s plot is fiction, he chose the real-world setting to grant the story’s themes a dose of authenticity.
“I talked to some people that are a little bit more in the business, and a lot of them encouraged me not to use Salem, but that was a very intentional choice for me,” Benton says. “The word Salem means something, and I wanted to contrast the characters and obviously the things that happen in the book with these ideas of peace and tranquility being the backdrop. You see this thin layer of peace as you drive through, but we don't really know what's going on.”
The plot of 65560 follows a newcomer to Salem who begins to make unexpected discoveries.
“In my experience, there were always legends about people in Salem, that they had been in the CIA or were criminals hiding out,” Benton says. “In my story, there's an outsider that moves to town in high school, and that's the introduction to this idea there are people moving in, but what happens to peace when that occurs? There's definitely a sense of suspicion to outsiders when you're a native of the Ozarks, and outsiders also have a sense that people in the Ozarks are backwards and easy to take advantage of.”
Benton, who now lives in Texas, says he wrote the novel with a sense of nostalgia along with a feeling of catharsis.
“It's equal parts social commentary and themes dealing with loyalty, friendship, revenge, and secrets,” Benton says. “There are layers to this book. One layer is a rural-noir murder mystery, so if you just need a quick beach read, it's there. At the same time, there’s a deeper question of what can happen in a place that's supposed to be this idyllic corner of the Ozarks, a place a lot of people love to visit, but what's really going on there? In real life, there have been a lot of bizarre things happen there, a lot of criminal things, and not everybody is good hearted or good natured, and like a lot of stories, I just kind of took things to the extreme to make a point.”
Benton released the book last year to positive reception in Salem and beyond.
“It's been really positive,” Benton says. “I think that’s the exciting part for me, because I knew Salem would get behind it, Salem has always been supportive of me in all of my endeavors. There's no place like home in that sense, but at the same time, what about when strangers start reading it? People who don't know me have read it and given the same feedback. That's been really encouraging.”
Benton says 65560 can be purchased on Amazon, at select regional bookstores and in Salem at the Ozark Natural & Cultural Resource Center. He’ll also have copies to sell and sign during a couple of upcoming book signings. On May 9, Benton will be at Rendezvous on the Ridge at the Big Rock Candy Mountain resort in Shannon County. On June 6, Benton will be at Rolla’s Bookmark this Bar for a reading.
“I'm already working on a couple more ideas,” Benton says. “I don't know if they're going to be sequels, necessarily, but they're definitely going to be in this universe. There’s a character in this book that's the deputy sheriff, and I've got an idea for him. Then I've got a surprise idea that isn't developed enough to probably share, but there’s another character in this book that might make a reappearance. I actually have a totally different idea that's a murder mystery set on a float trip, and that's burning a hole in my head, so that one might come first.”
