The Pecan Man

The Pecan Man is a short novel by Cassie Dandridge Selleck that focuses on Eldred “Eddie” Mims, an unhoused African American man falsely accused of murdering the teenage son of the town’s white police chief. Published in 2012 and set in 1976, it is told through the perspective of an elderly white woman, Ora Lee Beckworth, who knows the truth about who killed the teen and why. Through the revealing of the truth, Ora reveals her motivations for lying about the events surrounding the murder and the moral ambiguity involved in keeping such secrets. Racial disparity shapes the lives of those involved, calling into question the divisions within the segregated Southern town.

Selleck lives in Florida and regards herself as a Southern writer. She holds a BFA in creative writing and a master’s degree in communication and storytelling. She published The Truth About Grace, the sequel to The Pecan Man, in 2018. What Matters in Mayhew (2016) and The Mayhew Junction Historical Society (2020) are the first two books in Selleck’s Beanie Bradsher series. The Pecan Man has been optioned for a film by BCDF Pictures, and Selleck’s first chapter of The Pecan Man “won first place in the CNW/FFWA Florida State Writing Competition in the Unpublished Novel category in 2006” (Ford, Tamara. “Review: The Pecan Man, by Cassie Dandridge Selleck.” Shelf Addiction, 8 June 2015). The novel was the 2016 selection for the If All Arkansas Read the Same Book project.

This guide refers to the 2012 edition copyrighted by Selleck.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss rape, murder, racial prejudice, wrongful conviction, and addiction.

Plot Summary

Ora Lee Beckworth, an elderly widow, reflects on the pivotal events of 1976 in the small town of Mayville, Florida, and decides to reveal the long-held secrets and stories she’s kept hidden for the past 25 years.

In the summer of 1976, she employs an unhoused African American man named Eldred Mims. Ora calls him Eddie, but the local children call him “the Pecan Man” in reference to the pecans he collects and subsists on (2). Ora’s all-white neighborhood is appalled that Ora has hired Eddie, but Ora, along with her African American housekeeper, Blanche, and Blanche’s children soon befriend him, and a small family of sorts forms. One afternoon, Ora finds Blanche comforting her youngest daughter, Grace, who has been attacked. Blanche explains to Ora that Skipper Kornegay, the 17-year-old son of Police Chief Ralph Kornegay, raped Grace. Blanche is adamant that Grace must forget the assault. Certain that Grace would be retraumatized if the truth came to light, Blanche convinces Ora to lie to Grace, telling her that she merely dreamed the attack. Because Grace is young, the lie seems to work until Grace sees Skipper once again.

When Eddie, unaware of the cover-up, asks about Grace’s mental state, Ora is shocked. She learns that Eddie witnessed the attack. Blanche’s oldest child, Marcus, overhears their conversation and later confronts Eddie, demanding the complete details. Marcus, initially determined to keep his cool, later fights Skipper, who threatens Marcus with a knife. In the scuffle, Marcus kills Skipper, and Ora helps him flee town. Ora is determined to keep Marcus’s actions a secret from Blanche. When Marcus dies in a car accident as he flees, Ora feels justified in her lie.

The police accuse Eddie of Skipper’s murder and take him into custody. Ora visits him daily and meets with the local judge, a man she has known since they were both children. After some time, Judge Harley Odell agrees to release Eddie on bond as long as Ora agrees to house him. In the weeks leading to Christmas, Eddie’s bond with Ora, Blanche, and her daughters grows stronger. Grace, in particular, takes a special interest in him. Eddie agrees with Ora that Blanche must not find out that Marcus murdered Skipper. Ora feels conflicted and is reluctant to deny Eddie justice. Eddie, however, is convinced that because he is an unhoused Black man, he is already guilty in the court of public opinion and will never receive a fair trial. He decides to plead guilty to the crime and is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

While Eddie is incarcerated, Ora continues to visit him. She helps Blanche’s daughters, too, by funding their college educations and guiding them as they become adults. Grace, however, is unable to finish high school and develops a substance addiction. Blanche raises Grace’s two children and works for Ora until Blanche dies of a stroke in her sixties. Soon after the funeral, Patrice, Blanche’s oldest daughter, connects with Grace and convinces her to undergo rehabilitation. Three years later, Eddie dies in prison, and Ora is pleased when Grace and her sisters attend his funeral. Eddie has left his few possessions, mostly photographs, to Ora. She gives most of them to his estranged daughter, Tressa, who also attends his funeral.

On the day of the service, Ora reveals the contents of a letter that Eddie has left; in it, he explains that Blanche was his daughter. Ora, then, is determined to reveal the secrets she has also been keeping. She finally unburdens herself by telling Chief Ralph Kornegay that Skipper raped Grace and that Marcus killed him in a fight.