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Brian Panowich

Brian is the author of Bull Mountain, a southern crime saga coming Fall 2015 from Putnam Books. He has several stories available in print and online collections. Two of his stories, "If I Ever Get Off This Mountain" and "Coming Down The Mountain", were nominated for a Spinetingler award in 2013. He is currently a firefighter in East Georgia, living with his wife and four children. Bull Mountain is his first novel.

Awards: ITW (2016) see all

Genres: Mystery

New and upcoming books

July 2025

Long Night Moon

Series

Bull Mountain
   1. Bull Mountain (2015)
   2. Like Lions (2018)
   The Broken King (2019)
   3. Hard Cash Valley (2020)
   4. Nothing But the Bones (2024)

Novels

Long Night Moon (2025)

Books containing stories by Brian Panowich

Trouble No More (2021)
Crime Fiction Inspired by Southern Rock and the Blues
edited by
Mark Westmoreland

The Best American Mystery Stories 2019 (2019)
(Best American Mystery Stories)
edited by
Jonathan Lethem and Otto Penzler

Trouble in the Heartland (2014)
Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen
(Gutter Books Rock Anthology)
edited by
Joe Clifford

Awards

2016 ITW Award for Best First Novel : Bull Mountain

Award nominations

	2016 Barry Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : Bull Mountain
	2016 Anthony Award for Best First Novel (nominee) : Bull Mountain
	2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller (nominee) : Bull Mountain

Brian Panowich recommends

The Dredge (2024)
Brendan Flaherty
"It's clear that Brendan Flaherty is not here to f*ck around. With his debut novel, The Dredge, he catapults us right away into dark family dysfunction with tight, athletic prose reminiscent of seasoned masters like Elmore Leonard and Harry Crews. This novel could've been twice as long, but this author knew to stick to the plan with not a wasted word. So, remember the name, Flaherty, folks. He's here to stay."

Panther Gap (2023)
James A McLaughlin
"With Panther Gap, McLaughlin has surpassed his award-winning debut and offered up a complex and brutal installment in the rural thriller wheelhouse. If picture perfect settings, plotting as skilled as McCarthy, and prose reminiscent of Larry Brown, is what you're looking for, McLaughlin is your huckleberry. He's one of the finest storytellers out there today."

It Dies with You (2022)
Scott Blackburn
"Blackburn writes with the same ferocity as Hammett and James M. Cain and It Dies With You is a heavyweight gut punch of hardboiled badassery. This book will leave you with bloody knuckles."

The Devil Himself (2022)
Peter Farris
"It's fair to say Farris was one of my original inspirations to become a writer. His follow up, The Devil Himself, and his latest novel The Clay Eaters has made Farris an award-winning household name in France and remains to this day one of the single best crime writers I've ever read."

Pay Dirt Road (2022)
(Annie McIntyre Mystery, book 1)
Samantha Jayne Allen
"Fellow Georgia scribe, Samantha Jayne Allen, has written a brilliantly paced and breathless debut novel. Pay Dirt Road is a gorgeous blend of sweeping epic and small-town mystery. From the stark and hazy Texas backdrop to the sins of the past and secrets that come home to roost, the tension never lets up. This book will have your head spinning and your heart breaking. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. Pay Dirt Road is a perfect addition to the rural mystery genre."

Impacted (2021)
Benji Carr
"Georgia scribe Benji Carr isn't just breaking down barriers with his bullet train of a novel, IMPACTED, he's kicking them in with steel-toed boots. Carr takes the modern thriller to a higher level that challenges the reader to step out of their comfort zone and grab the tail end of a goddamn lightning bolt. Novels like IMPACTED are not written to be fodder for pop culture, then put back on the shelf. They are written to blow open the status quo, like a chunk of literary C4, and force the reader to think – while their heart pounds harder and faster with every turn of the page. If a new and fiercely original voice in fiction is something that interests you, try on some Benji Carr. IMPACTED knocked my dick in the dirt. And I'm sure this is just the beginning."

Never Turn Back (2020)
(Faulkner Family Thriller, book 1)
Christopher Swann
"An intelligent and layered mystery that had me burning through the pages. The balance of darkness and redemption without losing a bit of the tightrope tension is a skill most writers achieve only after an entire career."

Holding Smoke (2020)
(Judah Cannon, book 3)
Steph Post
"Steph Post is still the official voice of working class literature in Florida, akin to what Daniel Woodrell has done for Missouri, or Ron Rush for the Carolinas."

Where the Sun Shines Out (2017)
Kevin Catalano
"I'll dare to bet this novel will be talked bout for many, many years to come."

The Woman From Prague (2017)
(Ash McKenna, book 4)
Rob Hart
"Hart is a master storyteller."

Knuckleball (2015)
Tom Pitts
"Knuckleball is a bruiser of a story that reads as fast as the title implies and sits heavy in your mind long after you've read the last."

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