Former Gannett/USA Today and Fox Sports Ohio journalist Steph West released her second book and debut novel Newcross in November 2024. The book, considered a love letter to Appalachia and America’s Midwest, was published through West’s indie publishing company Red Fern Press and is available for purchase through Amazon in paperback, hardcover, and Kindle. Audio format will be available in 2025.

Newcross is the first book in the Newcross trilogy. It will be followed by the second book of the trilogy, Bounty, and the conclusion of the series, Healed. It’s dedicated to her older brother, Jason, and their Appalachian adventures where they “traversed the cool creeks, dark woods, and grassy landscapes” of their childhood.

In this action-adventure fantasy novel, West lures readers into the mythological Appalachian town of Newcross, Ohio, the year 1975. Here, Detective Fin Baker must get her bearings quickly after being whisked through time from New York City, the year 2020, by a captivating man claiming to be her father. After growing up in a foster home, Fin must suddenly confront the father who says he is immortal, and the mother who abandoned her—all while using her extraordinary gifts to hunt a serial killer and find Death’s dagger called “The Grim.” Will she be able to reunite her family and track down a murderer or will the Grim fall into the wrong hands and upend the world as we know it?

This thrilling and emotionally endearing journey challenges the genre boundaries of crime, adventure, and romance as West constructs a multigenerational world from the tenets of Greek Mythology with a science fantasy twist. The narrative speaks loudly to anyone who has ever desperately craved human connection in an increasingly disconnected world.