Evil on the Edge of the Edwards Plateau
Darkness lurks in the shadows of the seemingly unspoiled country around Devils River. A sadistic murder of a Mexican American teenager in 1953 and the demented slaughter of a Mexican American family in 1968 have remained unsolved for decades. Both vicious slayings were linked by geography, prejudice, and perversity. Both atrocities were committed at the intersection of race, class, and entitlement. The community and key law enforcement personnel avoided accountability and looked the other way. As a result, the victims' memories and the identities of the depraved perpetrators were confined to whispers.
A reckoning is long overdue, and award-winning author E.R. Bills's investigative efforts deliver the impetus. The devils were simply in the details.
About the Author :
E. R. Bills is an award-winning author and freelance journalist. His nonfiction works include Texas Obscurities: Stories of the Peculiar, Exceptional and Nefarious (2013), The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas (2014), Black Holocaust: The Paris Horror and a Legacy of Texas Terror (2015), Texas Far and Wide: The Tornado with Eyes, Gettysburg's Last Casualty, the Celestial Skipping Stone and Other Tales (History Press 2017), The San Marcos 10: An Anti-War Protest in Texas (2019), Texas Oblivion: Mysterious Disappearances, Escapes and Cover-Ups (2021), Fear and Loathing in the Lone Star State (2021) and 100 Things to Do in Texas Before You Die (2022). His fiction work includes Pendulum Grim (2020), and The Halloween in Me (2024). Bills has also written for the Austin American-Statesman, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas Co-Op Power magazine, Fort Worth Magazine and Fort Worth Weekly. He currently resides in North Texas.
Review :
"Texas history is more than just the Alamo, cowboys, and Texas Rangers allegedly saving the day. Texas history also includes the systematic oppression of minorities in the state and justice turning a blind eye to those who need it most time and time again. As Bills claims, "We should no longer avert our eyes to what went on. This is who we were and, in some sense, still are. Our ignorance is indefensible and asinine in ways that should never stop offending us." -Texas Books in Review, Spring 2024
"E.R. Bills never shies away from exposing the sordid and often bloody details, even when they are buried deep in the heart of Texas. If the truth about Texans and Texas is to be found, he will doggedly pursue it. The accounts in this emotionally charged book might be difficult to accept or perhaps even read, especially for those with an abundance of lopsided state pride. However, one thing is crystal clear: As the author presents information about sullied people, places, and events, his compassion for the victims and for Texas at large, and his own activism and dogged quest for the truth, are beacons of hope and a call to action." -Lone Star Literary Life, September 9, 2023
"A Voice for the forgotten." -Texas Books in Review, Fall 2021
"For Bills, substantive efforts toward racial reconciliation in post-James Byrd Texas, similar to the proactive steps taken in the past decade in Rosewood and Tulsa, mark the only hope for Texans, southerners and all Americans to remedy the ongoing racial tensions that confront the United States. "
-Journal of Southern History, August 2015
