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Ninie Hammon
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Home Grown Kindle Edition

by Ninie Hammon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,176 ratings
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Kidnapping. Murder. Grass-roots justice.

When her father is shot down on the street in front of his office, college journalism professor Sarabeth Bingham abandons academia to take over the weekly newspaper he left behind. She soon discovers marijuana-growing has corrupted the idyllic little Kentucky town where she grew up.

Just as selling booze during Prohibition built organized crime empires, the easy riches of dope-growing has bred evil and greed like a fly breeds maggots. But when kidnapping and brutal murder rock the community, Sarabeth declares war on the marijuana-growing industry in a blazing front-page editorial. Now, the growers have to shut her up—fast, before she brings the feds down on them. And the meanest dog in the dope-growing junkyard knows just how to do it.

Home Grown is a fictional account of the real Cornbread Mafia that sprung up in picturesque Marion County, Kentucky, and grew into the largest illegal marijuana-growing operation in U.S. history. Now, Ninie Hammon has turned that true story into a run-away-train fictional tale with neck-snapping twists and turns, ever-tightening suspense, and an unforgettable ending that will have you flipping pages long into the night.

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  1. Print length
    406 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    June 7, 2014
  5. File size
    3315 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

          FACT...in 1989, federal authorities cracked the Cornbread Mafia, the largest domestic marijuana growing operation in American history, capturing 182 tons of pot with a street value of $400 million. Federal marshals arrested 56 men in five states...but they all came from one small town in Kentucky.
          ALSO FACT...in 1989 I ran the newspaper in that small town.  I saw with my own eyes the incredible destructive power of greed and easy money when I covered the Cornbread Mafia story, which quickly became national news, on front pages from coast to coast. In the decades after I left that newspaper, after I left journalism behind and became a novelist, the seed of a story from that time took root and began to grow. Even though it would be set in the 1980s, I wanted it to feel contemporary. Women would relate to Sarabeth Bingham but I wanted it to be more than women's fiction. I wanted to write the kind of mystery thrillers and suspense story that would grip the hearts of men, too, a crime drama for people of all ages and backgrounds based on the true story of the Cornbread Mafia empire.  Books like The Barrel Murder convinced me that I could weave the history of a crime with fiction and braid the two into a gripping tale.

From the Inside Flap

Marijuana trials where the jury refuses to find the defendant guilty of a crime. A sheriff, prosecutor and judge fed up and worn out with the lack of action and the obstruction of justice. Little kids who accidentally stumble into an incredible mystery--who left a pile of money on the floor of an abandoned building? A doper whose defense in court is turtle fishing. Suicides on the riverbank. Bessie Bingo. Small town Christmas parades. All these things are FACT, too. They really happened in the community where Ninie Hammon ran the newspaper. She took these facts and weaved them with fiction to produce Home Grown.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00KUIEEQI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sterling & Stone (June 7, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 7, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3315 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 406 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2,176 ratings

About the author

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Ninie Hammon

Ninie Hammon

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Ninie Hammon (rhymes with shiny, not skinny) grew up in Muleshoe, Texas, got a BA in English and theatre from Texas Tech University and snagged a job as a newspaper reporter. She didn't know a thing about journalism, but her editor said if she could write he could teach her the rest of it and if she couldn't write the rest of it didn't matter. She hung in there for a 25-year career as a journalist. As soon as she figured out that making up the facts was a whole lot more fun than reporting them, she turned to fiction and never looked back.

Ninie now writes suspense--every flavor except pistachio: psychological suspense, inspirational suspense, suspense thrillers, paranormal suspense, suspense mysteries.

In every book she keeps this promise to her Loyal Reader: "I will tell you a story in a distinctive voice you'll always recognize, about people as ordinary as you are--people who have been slammed by something they didn’t sign on for, and now they must fight for their lives. Then smack in the middle of their everyday worlds, those people encounter the unexplainable--and it's always the game-changer."

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
2,176 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tony Parsons
5.0 out of 5 stars crime thriller
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
Westminster Abbey. BANG! Jim Bingham (69, Callison County Tribune editor, journalist) never saw what was coming or anything again.
Dr. Sarabeth Bingham (daughter, aka Elizabeth, PhD journalism professor, Stanford U, multiple sclerosis MS) took care of the funeral/burial from Beddingfield’s Funeral Home.

7/1/1988, Brewster, KY. Callison County. Bubba Jamison’s marijuana crop was a very lucrative business for him.
Daisy (Rottweiler) who could not bark, Target (pit bull), & Lucky (German Shepherd)
all helped keep an eye on things.
Billy Joe Reynolds (husband/father) thought he was a little smarter than most drug dealers.
He would find another location to grow his marijuana.
Callison County Circuit Court. All rise. Judge Earl S. Compton (50+) is presiding.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky vs Joseph Edward Fogerty.
The trial was over. Joseph got 25 yrs. & was sent to the Kentucky State Penitentiary (Eddyville).
Dr. Bingham thought well it was better than nothing.
Callison County Tribune office. Dr. Bingham 1st day on the job. The employees are: Harmony Pruitt (20+, receptionist), Jonas Haskins (advertising mgr.), Wanda Lee (55+, circulation mgr.), Beverly
Thompson (55+, composition mgr.), Bobby Wilson (P/T reporter), & Gabe Lee (18, HS; Sr., Wanda’s older son/brother, photography, dark room).
Cock fighting was still a way of life. Most everyone’s money was on Elsie Bingo (cock).
Callison County Circuit Court. All rise. Judge Earl S. Compton (50+) is presiding.
The Commonwealth of Kentucky vs Jimmy Dan Puckett.
Sheriff Andrew “Sonny” Jackson Tackett III (Callison County, witness, widower), Simon Henry (Commonwealth’s Attorney), Jimmy Dan Puckett (defendant), & Anderson Bertram (defense Attorney) were at their respective places.
What happened with/to Margert “Maggie Mae” Davis (8), & Lester “Doodlebug” Burkett?
What shocking news did Jennifer Jamison (15, daughter) tell Jake?
Chief Jedediah Craddock (54, CCFD), Asst. Chief Harold Baxter (CCFD), & their crew had arrived at the Double Springs Distillery (Rolling Fork River).
The place already looked like Hell.
Family Five, Citation, Black Star, & Flying Ebony warehouses were all toast.

Seth McAllister had perished in the fire, Dr. Bingham had survived.
The arson investigation would take time.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written crime thriller book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a huge set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great suspense movie, or better yet a mini TV series. A very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free author; Bay Forest; InstaFreebie; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
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Eric Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars . . . Suspense and Surprises
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2011
Verified Purchase
Ninie Hammon continues to impress. Each of her novels takes us on a journey into the hearts and minds of a wide cast of characters, and each story dives deeply into serious subjects. Don't get me wrong. Her books will entertain you and keep you flipping the pages. She pulls no punches, and no characters are safe. But she will also move you emotionally, whether she's exploring the horrors of genocide in Sudan, the nuances of the death penalty, the pain of abuse, or the effects of drugs on a small community.

In "Home Grown," we meet Sarabeth Bingham, a woman returning after college to her hometown in the hills of Kentucky. Her father, the newspaper editor, has been murdered, and she must not only deal with his funeral but with the trial of the indicted killer. When she takes over her dad's paper, she doesn't realize that it will lead her on a deadly trail into the truth of the county's drug market and the real identity of her dad's killer. She meets old friends, makes new enemies, and flirts with love. Lurking, though, at the edges of her world, a ruthless man will stop at nothing to keep her from bringing down his kingdom.

Hammon takes the real-life facts of one of the nation's largest drug busts, over 182 tons of illegally grown marijuana, and mixes those in with some memorable characters and unforgettable scenes. This is hard-hitting stuff, showing us drug use, brutal murders, and suicides. As usual, Hammon spends some time setting up her story and conflicts. There's a lot to keep track of, and there are at least five main characters with "B" names, which makes that chore tougher, but she twists all these plot threads into a story that you can't put down.

This is the fourth Hammon novel I've read, and I can't wait for her fifth, "Black Sunshine." I know it will serve up more of her trademarks: unflinching honesty, relevant issues, deep characterization, and a climax full of suspense and surprises.
37 people found this helpful
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Pirate Patty Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Do you still do the right thing even if your life is at stake?
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
While this is a work of Fiction, some of the events in this book actually took place. Cornbread Mafia? Real. How the industry ruined lives? Real.

Jim Bingham, editor of The Callison County Tribune in Brewster, KY., has been murdered. In his own office. One of the town drunks has been arrested for the crime after being found passed out with the murder weapon and the dead mans hat on his head. Sounds kind of fish already,right?

When Jim's daughter, Sarabeth arrives along with her half-brother, Ben, she quickly finds out that things have changed in her home town. As Sarabeth struggles with her own secrets she also digs into everything and everyone in her town. Will she get the answers she needs? Will she live to tell the story her father died for?

The cast of characters are complex, real and what happens is brutally honest and uncomfortable to read. Whenever you are dealing with large amounts of money and drugs there will be violence. Officials will be bribed. And innocent children and adults will die.

At times I wasn't sure who were the good guys and who were the bad guys and that kept me turning the pages all night! The thing is, most of them were a little of both, well except Bubba, that's a whole different level of crazy there. But that is how life is, you can be a good person and make a bad decision.

There was quite a bit of violence but there was also quite a bit of hope and good honest people willing to do the right thing when it matters the most.
I'm a fan of Ninie's books. They are real and the characters flawed, but oh so human. Whether you agree or disagree on the marijuana issue, it doesn't matter. This isn't an pro/con story. It's a story that should be read.
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Top reviews from other countries

Halibut Queen
5.0 out of 5 stars very very well done
Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2017
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Ninie Hammond has become one of my top ten favorite authors. She writes powerful stories with characters that take on flesh in the pages of her books which often explore difficult themes with great insight. Home Gown was an incredibly good book. The sort of book that makes you wonder what you were doing handing out five star reviews to other books. This book make you wish you could give it a ten. Well done. I am looking forward to more from this author. .
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FoxyLoxy
5.0 out of 5 stars Great author!!!
Reviewed in Australia on August 21, 2019
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I love Ninie's books. Everyone that i have read to date had such a great story.
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Laura Lang
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2015
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This is the first time I have read anything by this author and I enjoyed this book. It's different to other crime books I've read and I've read a lot!

Set in 1988/89 in a tiny town in Kentucky, you don't expect the evil that growing dope visits on almost everyone who lives there.

It wasn't unputdownable but a good read if you're looking for something on the lighter side of dark.
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camspanges
4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in Canada on September 23, 2020
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I read a lot of suspense. This ranks high on my list. Hard to put down, a must read. Take the time to explore this author.
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GR
4.0 out of 5 stars Home Grown - Good Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2015
Verified Purchase
The first I have read by Ninnie Hammon This was a good page turner with a well formed story line with great characters that developed well. As with a few books there is occasionally too much unnecessary irrelevant description...but that could just be me. A newspaper woman returns to her hometown after her father is murdered apparently by a drunk with a grudge, but as the story develops this seems less and less likley. The plot thickens and thye net widens. I will buy more.
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