Heads You Lose

Siblings Paul and Lacey Hansen grow marijuana on a quiet plot of rural Northern California land, keeping a low profile by necessity. When a headless body turns up on their property, involving law enforcement is simply not an option, so they move it and hope for the best. It keeps coming back. Beneath this darkly comic crime plot runs a second story: the novel itself is written in alternating chapters by co-authors Lisa Lutz and David Hayward, former romantic partners who cannot agree on where any of it should go. The result is a story that argues with itself, with footnotes and asides where the authors bicker directly with each other.

Abby Craden brings dry, deadpan energy to the material, handling both the rural-noir tension and the meta-fictional comedy without tipping too far in either direction. Her timing is sharp enough to sell the absurdity while keeping the mystery grounded. At just over nine hours, the format suits the book's layered structure, letting listeners experience both narrative threads as the friction between them builds.