The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues

An exuberant and poignant novel of passions, family and forgiveness, from the author of the bestselling The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat.

When a late life love affair blooms between Mr. Forrest Payne, the owner of the Pink Slipper Gentleman s Club, and Miss Beatrice Jordan, famous for yelling warnings of eternal damnation at the Club's departing patrons, their wedding summons a legend to town. Mr. El Walker, the great guitar bluesman, comes home to give a command performance in Plainview, Indiana, a place he'd sworn never to set foot in again.

But El is not the only Plainview native with a hurdle to overcome. Among those in this tightly knit community who show up every Sunday after church for lunch at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat are the lifelong friends known locally as The Supremes: Clarice, facing down her longing for, chance at and fear of a great career; Barbara Jean, grappling at last with the loss of a mother whose life humiliated both of them, and Odette, reaching toward her husband through an anger of his that she does not understand.

Ed Moore's lively cast of characters need not learn how to survive but how, fully, to live. And they do, every one of them, serenaded by the bittersweet and unforgettable blues song El Walker plays, born of his own great loss and love.