Something in the Water by Phyllis R. Dixon
Small town. Big secrets. Dirty water. A mother’s choice.
Buried secrets, environmental disaster, and a legacy of corruption hit too close to home when a California native and her family make a fresh start in small-town Texas—and find trouble just beneath the promising surface…
As director of an award-winning investigative news radio show, California native Billie Jordan is used to helping others fight trouble. But she faces her own trouble when the radio station is sold and she’s unable to find another job. Their savings dwindle as she and her husband struggle to help their son overcome an opioid addiction. When her husband gets a professorship at an HBCU in his hometown, they relocate to get a fresh start. She’s slowly adjusting to a cubicle workspace in her new job at the bank, sweltering heat and accepting y’all as a word. All is well until severe storms cause massive destruction and contaminate the town’s water supply—making it unsafe to drink.
Billie learns water woes and boil water notices have existed for years, and finds connections between money, power, and family, are as dirty as the water. Warned to mind her own business, she remains persistent and discovers a shocking cover-up. Even more shocking, who is involved and the extent they’ll go to protect their interests.
She’s always advocated for the people over the powerful. But when her son gets in trouble, her silence can make it go away. With her son’s freedom at stake and tensions in her marriage, she’ll need all her resources and skills to save her family and expose the corruption . . . if a conspiracy doesn’t drown her first.
Author’s Note includes information to decipher and access local water quality information.
Reviews for Something in the Water by Phyllis R. Dixon
Engaging story for anyone who drinks water…
—Janis F. Kearney – Author and President, Celebrate! Maya Project
A beautiful, well-told story of deceit, trouble and triumph. Dixon has woven political, cultural and critical social issues into a compelling, entertaining page-turner.
—Ruth P. Watson, best-selling author of A Right Worthy Woman and Blackberry Days of Summer
About the Author
Phyllis R. Dixon is the author of the novels, A Taste for More, Intermission, Down Home Blues, Forty Acres and the newest Something in the Water. She is also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul. She is a former bank regulator and has also owned a bookstore.
She is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has lived in Houston, Texas and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and now resides in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a former board member of the Greater Memphis YWCA.
When not reading or writing, she enjoys sports, classic movies, and chocolate. Follow her at
www.phyllisrdixon.com and https://www.facebook.com/phyllis.dixon.376