He wasn't supposed to have bad moods or subpar days. He was not, however, running away from anything when he died. Less than a month before, Willie and his wife, JoAnne, had seen a private screening of the movie My Dog Skip, based on Willie's book of the same title. He often said his writing career might be judged by it. The novel became an obsession.
Taps is set during the Korean War era in a small Mississippi town.
As often happens, justice is ambiguous rather than clear-cut. It was published posthumously on April 16. I think it ranks among Willie's top three works. Echoing Faulkner and Caldwell, and Dan Wakefield's Going All the Way, it plays a fitting Taps for a literary genius cut down in his prime. Your literary reputation seems secure.