"The Trees" is my first Percival Everett book. I learned of him through Bookstagram friends and followed a friend's recommendation on where to start. "James" is next on my list. In watching Everett's interviews on YouTube, I am learning that he is a person that I would love to have as a personal friend.

In Money, Mississippi, where Emmett Till was lynched in 1955, a white man named Junior Junior is found dead in his own home with the body of an unknown Black man beside him. It is soon discovered that the body of the unknown Black man has disappeared from the morgue. The body is found again in the home of Junior Junior's cousin, Wheat, who has also been murdered. 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 discover that both Junior and Wheat are relatives of Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who falsely accused the teenage Emmett Till of making sexual advances at her, leading to his lynching and death. Ed and Jim 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 trace the identity of the Black man found at the crime scenes to a company that sells bodies for research. They begin to suspect Gertrude, a white-passing waitress, and her 105-year-old great-grandmother Mama Z are involved in the local murders.

Everett weaves together fact and fiction, incorporating elements of humor, satire, and darkness. Through a murder mystery evolving into a poignant narrative on racial discrimination and violence, he delves into the history and legacy of injustice, focusing on the lynching of Black people.