The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me

Hot times in the Deep South.
Tomboy Haley Ellyson has grown into womanhood, and just about every male in the town of Houser Banks, Mississippi, appreciates the change—especially horse trainer Bo, who's too old for 16-year-old Haley but can't help rubbing up against her anyhow. Haley lets him, partly because she enjoys it and partly because the two share a terrible secret: she didn't see Bo kill the young black man who attacked her drunken father, but she did help bury him. Meantime, she can't help wandering by the messy pile of leaves and sticks and meditating on the meaning of it all. Old man Ellyson doesn't remember a thing, but that's nothing new. No one has to know, Bo reasons, and no one does besides him and Haley. So life goes on, and the young folks go on smoking, drinking, and fornicating, while Haley, a skilled rider, hangs around the stables and lets Bo rub up against her. There isn't much else to do besides sit in the courthouse and watch benevolent Judge Greel preside over cases. The widowed Judge sent his son Fletcher to prep school in Connecticut, and, now that he's back, he's in love with Haley too. The two hang out with Haley's friend Riley and Crystal, his black girlfriend, a blues-singing goddess, dancing the sultry nights away. Haley's daddy sobers up for a bit when his live-in love Gwyneth miscarries their baby—and Haley feels like a motherless child all over again, especially since her real mama ran away several years ago. Fletcher offers what comfort he can: he's struggling with memories of his own mother's cancer death. Riley and Crystal's affair is stirring up racial tensions that explode (sort of) when the shallow grave in the woods is finally found.
Newcomer Kingsbury overdoes the homegrown dialect and detail in a story that's ultimately unconvincing. Lots of steamy sex, though, for those interested.