Excel author Lawrence Earl Gulley publishes his 15th novel, ‘Skeeter’

Lawrence Earl Gulley with his new book, 'Skeeter'

The 15^th novel by Excel’s most prolific author hit the streets last week, less than six months after the publication of his previous novel.

Lawrence Earl Gulley of Excel, who is known far and wide as one of Monroe County’s top storytellers, recently published his 15^th novel, “Skeeter.” Officially released on Kindle on May 16, Lawrence began his publicity campaign for his new book during Friday’s morning show on WPPG 101.1 FM in Evergreen. While an e-version of the book had been available for nearly three weeks, print copies of the new 426-page book only became available late last week.

Lawrence said that “Skeeter” is the story of “a four-year-old boy from the South whose Senator father and greedy mother decide to stage his kidnapping for financial gain. After the ‘kidnapping’ goes badly wrong, Skeeter has to run for his life. What happens to him next is a suspenseful, heartwarming story of what it takes to survive tragedy and still manage to create a life that works.”

For those of you who have read Lawrence’s previous books, you’ll know that he does a lot of name-dropping. Familiar names that you’ll find between the pages of “Skeeter” include Melanie Dees Andress, Anne Brown, Delores Chandler, Leon Hixon, Elmore Jackson, Jim Jordan, Mary Coker Sirmon, Emily Starr, Bill Weaver and many others. Other characters in the book will probably also sound familiar to many longtime residents of Monroe County.

While reading Lawrence’s stories, it’s also fun to piece together the clues he drops about where his fictional tales take place. Familiar locales in “Skeeter” include the towns of Excel and Frisco City, the City of Monroeville, Excel High School, U.S. Highway 84, West Claiborne Street, Monroeville’s downtown square and many others. Again, other fictionalized locations in the book will probably also sound familiar to longtime residents of the area.

“Skeeter” is Lawrence’s 15^th published novel. His previous books include “Cora Jean (2016),” “Peanut House (2017),” “Buffington (2017),” “Bessie’s Story (2018),” “Redtown (2018),” “Bayou County (2018),” “Brothers (2018),” “Green Briar (2018),” “The Tangled Road Home (2019),” “Layton (2019),” “The Killing of Lois Hardee (2019),” “Sweet Liberty (2020),” “Alyssa Madison (2021)” and “Wisteria (2022).” If you’ve never read any of these books, I recommend that you start with “Cora Jean,” which is getting attention from movie producers in New York and Hollywood.

Longtime fans of Lawrence’s novels have most likely read all of the books above, but have no fear. Lawrence is already hard at work on his next novel. If it’s as good as his previous books, then his loyal fans have a lot to look forward to. All of Lawrence’s books are available for purchase on Amazon, but you can also pick them up in a variety of other places nearby, including the Town Market in Excel and at the gift shop at the Old Monroe County Courthouse.