The Trees (Everett novel)
The Trees is a 2021 novel by American author Percival Everett, published by Graywolf Press. Set predominantly in the small town of Money, Mississippi, the novel follows a series of murders that seem to follow identical patterns. Summary
In Money, Mississippi, a White man called Junior Junior is found dead in his own home with the body of an unknown Black man beside him. When the bodies are taken to the morgue it is soon discovered that the body of the unknown Black man has disappeared. It is found again in the home of Junior Junior's cousin, Wheat, who has also been murdered. Shortly after the body of the Black man disappears again. Two Black detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Ed Morgan and Jim Davis, are sent to Money to investigate the situation. Ed and Jim go to a local bar frequented by the Black community of Money where they discover that both Junior and Wheat are relatives of Carolyn Bryant, a White woman who accused the teenage Emmett Till of making sexual advances at her leading to his lynching and death. Ed and Morgan believe that the disappearing body bears a striking resemblance to Emmett Till's battered body. More bodies begin to pile up around the country. Each features one or more White men who have been castrated with the bodies of Black or Asian men beside them. Ed and Jim are able to find the identity of the Black man found at the original crime scene. They trace it to a company that sells bodies for research. They also begin to suspect Gertrude Penstock, a White passing waitress they met in Money, and her 105 year old great-grandmother Mama Z are involved in the original murders. Unbeknown to Ed and Jim this is revealed to be true as Gertrude and a group of like-minded Black individuals had orchestrated the deaths of Wheat and Junior Junior as retaliation for their father's part in murdering Emmett Till. However they are baffled by the other murders. Reports of the other murders reveal that large groups of Black and Asian men who appear impervious to bullets, have started duplicating the murders orchestrated by Mama Z and Gertrude. Writing and development
To write the novel, Everett researched lynching in the United States. For this research, Everett purchased enough books dealing with elements of lynching to incidentally develop a "lynching section in [his] library". Everett attributes the humor in his novels, including in The Trees, to the influence of Mark Twain. Reception and accolades

Reception
The novel received mostly favorable reviews. Mary F. Corey, in a positive review published by the Los Angeles Review of Books, wrote that the novel included a "Twainian level of wit and meanness". Joyce Carol Oates called it "[r]eally profound writing...about subjects of great tragic and political significance. Carole V. Bell, in a review published by NPR, also praised the novel, writing that the book is a  "combination of whodunnit, horror, humor and razor blade sharp insight". Honors
Published in the UK by Influx Press, the novel was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize that was announced on September 6, 2022. It also won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 2022 for Fiction. References

2021 American novels
Graywolf Press books
English-language novels
Works about lynching in the United States
Novels set in Mississippi