New fictional account of Tri-State Crematory crime examines the motive and family dynamics behind the gruesome true crime

Chattanooga, Tenn. — Local author Jim Cheney’s newly published novel, Remains, brings readers back to the early 1990s before hundreds of bodies were recklessly discarded on the grounds of the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia, and weaves together a fictional backstory to the grotesque true crime that gripped the nation in 2002.

JD Headrick, one of the early readers of the novel, called it “a gripping, arresting read that lingers long after the final page, unsettling in the best possible way.”

Media coverage of the actual Tri-State crime was international in scope, drawing speculation and interpretation from major news outlets all over the world when it was uncovered. The scale of the discarded bodies and the elaborate scheme that accompanied the distribution of the supposed cremains back to the funeral homes and respective families was both horrific and baffling to the authorities.

"The decision to approach this story as fiction, in large part, was due to the fact that a lot of what happened had already been reported," Cheney said. "I did not see the point in re-hashing the facts as they were confirmed or the interpretations that arose from numerous perspectives.”

Cheney said he was also not interested in covering the legal circus that ensued after the crime was discovered. Instead, he was drawn to the how and why of what occurred. "I remember thinking, when the news broke on this, how could anything of that magnitude have gone on for so long without being noticed? And what could possibly be the motivation behind leaving corpses all over your family's property; particularly when you were living among them?”

Remains is a work of fiction based on real events. It turns true crime into an imagined story of a family and a small town in rural Georgia. Cheney meticulously researched the information available in the public domain about Tri-State but what has never been clearly defined is a motive for what happened.

“Remains is my attempt to put those pieces together with characters based on real people — from the family who owned and operated the crematorium, to the law enforcement officials who discovered what was going on in those woods,” Cheney explained. “I also recognize that a lot of people were deeply impacted by what happened in Noble, and so I tried to humanize the narrative through the lens of criminal activity."  

“Although based on a notorious true crime case, Remains is first and foremost a novel and Jim Cheney expertly draws on all the power and resources of the form to conjure up a complex, heartbreaking story of one community’s descent into moral hell,” said Alan Glynn, author of Bloodland, Irish Crime Novel of the Year 2011. “His multi-voiced, kaleidoscopic account of these terrible events is compelling and unforgettable.”

Cheney is a Chattanooga native. Remains is his third novel and can be purchased through online outlets such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.