Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Junker Blues by Chris Kelsey

Junker Blues by Chris Kelsey (Black Rose, 2022) is set in southwest Oklahoma during the Middle Eastern oil embargo of 1974. While the crisis meant economic disaster for much of the country, the overlooked oil reserves in Oklahoma suddenly received more attention than anyone ever expected. The small town of Burr was inundated with strangers brought in to work the oil fields and an influx of crime accompanied them. Police Chief Emmett Hardy juggles his limited staff and barely keeps up with everything that is happening in his town.

When a disabled young man is shot at the local drive-in and his best friend disappears, Hardy is outraged and determined to return his territory to the peaceful town it used to be. While the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation assumed control of the case from the start, Hardy still actively pursued leads and interviewed witnesses. Agent Isabel Cruickshank of the OSBI is in charge of the investigation. She and Hardy have worked together before and Hardy has no difficulty taking direction from a female.

I have to wonder how realistic this arrangement is for the time and the place. Law enforcement is historically misogynistic and Oklahoma is not a forward-thinking state.

The characters are convincingly original, and Hardy is a fine protagonist. I am more than a bit tired of reading about alcoholics, though, and I hope he sees the need to change in future books. Putting Hardy’s wife on the staff of the police department adds an interesting wrinkle to the story, as she doesn’t have to ask how his day went, she is part of it. Again, I don’t know how chronologically accurate this personnel decision is. Certainly it would be considered nepotism now. Of course small towns operate differently from cities, no matter what the year.

This is an excellent small town police procedural, well written with a solid plot that offers smooth pacing and dizzying misdirection. The resolution was completely unexpected. All five mysteries in the Hardy series are highly rated on Amazon, which suggests unusual consistency. This series is a must-read for fans of southwestern crime fiction, and readers of police procedurals will want to add it to their TBR lists. Recommended.

·         Publisher: ‎Black Rose Writing (May 25, 2022)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Paperback: ‎235 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1684339545

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1684339549

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3ApZrL0

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.