Blue Wild Indigo

THE OKLAHOMAN #1 BESTSELLER

2025 Western Writers of America "Spur Award" Winner for Best Western Contemporary Novel

2025 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite

2025 Will Rogers Medallion Award for "Modern Fiction"

2025 Indie Excellence Award for "Western Fiction"

It's 1954 in the red rock country town of Serafina, Oklahoma, where racial tensions are mounting in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision declaring segregation in schools unconstitutional. When two White hoodlums sexually assault a Mexican girl and pin the blame on Woody Coats, a young Black man, they nearly get him lynched.

Bachelor rancher Harry True knows Woody didn't do it. So does his best friend's wife, Bliss Stone, the woman Harry would have married if war hadn't intervened. They know Woody is innocent because they saw him miles away the night of the crime at their secret trysting place. Harry and Bliss have a choice to make: come forward and exonerate Woody, an old family friend; or keep silent to conceal their affair.

Violence erupts in Black and White parts of town as Harry and Bliss wrestle with what to do. They both dread what speaking up will cost them - friendship, family, respect - but soon learn that silence can cost more.

"The novel benefits from its convincing cast, each character gifted with a strong voice that accurately reflects the story's setting and time period... Jennings delivers an evocative portrait of a small town's unrest and instability during a critical point in history." -BookLife Reviews

"James Jennings's Blue Wild Indigo is steeped in the tradition of Southern and Southwestern writers like Larry McMurtry and Harper Lee. From the first page, Jennings whisks us away to a time, 1954, and a place, Oklahoma, that now only exists in the imagination of such talented writers... Jennings, a master of creating complicated characters and lush description makes his characters... familiar to us, not because we've seen them before, but because they are so skillfully rendered." -Charles Salzberg, 3 time Shamus nominated author of Second Story Man and Canary in the Coal Mine

"Jim Jennings is both a skilled author and a fine trial attorney, including experience as a prosecutor. Both areas of expertise are combined to produce this marvelous novel, Blue Wild Indigo. As an author, Jennings uses the characters... to weave a fascinating tale. The strong tension between love and loyalty to another and duty to the greater society is highlighted... One hates to put the book down because of the strong desire to read on and see what happens next." -William G. Paul, American Bar Association President (1999-2000),Oklahoma Hall of Fame (2003)