Bryan Gruley's The Hanging Tree Optioned for Film

John Gray, creator of the television series Ghost Whisperer, has optioned the film rights to the crime novel The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley, the second entry in the Starvation Lake (Michigan) series of mysteries featuring newspaper reporter Augustus "Gus" Carpenter. Gray intends to direct his own adapted screenplay.

When Gracie McBride, the wild girl who had left town eighteen years earlier, is found dead in an apparent suicide shortly after her homecoming, it sends shock waves through her native Starvation Lake. Gus, executive editor of the Pine County Pilot, sets out to solve the mystery with the help of his old flame and now girlfriend, Pine County sheriff deputy Darlene Esper. As Gus and Darlene investigate, they can't help but question if Gracie's troubled life really ended in suicide or if the suspicious crime-scene evidence adds up to murder.

But in such a small town it's impossible to be an impartial investigator — Gracie was Gus's second cousin; Darlene's best friend; and the lover of Gus's oldest pal, Soupy Campbell. Yet with all the bad blood between Gus and Gracie over the years, Gus is easily distracted by other problems. His employer is trying to push him out, the locals are annoyed that his stories have halted construction on a new hockey rink, and Darlene's estranged husband has returned to reclaim his wife.

When Gus tries to retrace Gracie's steps to discover what happened to her in the eighteen years she was away from Starvation Lake, he's forced to return to Detroit, the scene of his humiliating past. And though he's determined to find out what drove Gracie back home, Gus is unprepared for the terrible secrets he uncovers.

Though the author favors extended backstories and has an obsession with hockey that we do not share, we did enjoy The Hanging Tree, saying that it excels "... in its intricately developed plot that really hits its stride about two thirds of the way through. Just why did Gracie return to Starvation Lake, and did she kill herself ... or was she murdered? A whodunit, howdunit, and whydunit, all wrapped up in one, really exceptional novel ..." (Mysterious Reviews, 2010.)

(Source: Deadline|New York.)