Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Short Story Wednesday Review: Hallowed Ground: A Kate Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo

 

It is Fall as Hallowed Ground: A Kate Burkholder Short Story by Linda Castillo begins and the annual Pumpkin Festival is just days away. Eddie Chupp is harvesting his pumpkins when his dog finds an old bone. A jawbone to be exact. He would have thought it was a from a long dead sheep until he spotted the sliver in one of the molars.

That means this was a person.

It isn’t long before Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and her fiancée, John Tomasetti, of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are at the scene. A place known for pumpkins and its location next to the annual corn maze is now a crime scene. The land frequently floods and that might be how the odd jawbone wound up amongst the pumpkins.

There might be more bones. There is a victim to identify. There certainly is a lot to do and it happens in Hallowed Ground: A Kate Burkholder Short Story. A fast moving read with a lot going on. This is a solidly good tale. It also serves as a nice way to introduce Linda Castillo’s upcoming book, An Evil Heart: A Kate Burkholder Novel, coming out on July 11th.

 


My reading copy came via a purchase as my local library system was not picking this one up. Make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review of Hallowed Ground. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

4 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Bones in the ground always intrigues.

Kevin R. Tipple said...

When I was a kid, we had a vegetable garden. Dad did not think we needed a rototiller, so yours truly had to dig it out every year. I think I was about twelve the year I found part of a jawbone. Parents freaked. Everybody thought it was human. Called the cops and soon we had four squad cars here. Then a homicide detective showed up, started cussing, and explained that we fools had a piece from a cow.

TracyK said...

This sounds like a good story. I haven't read any of the series though. I do have the first on my shelf.

Kevin R. Tipple said...

You need to address that immediately. :)