Former Police Chief Samuel Craddock didn’t want to
be police chief again or investigate any more murders. But, the last few months
have been kind of rough in the small south Texas town of Jarret Creek. There were
some murders and Samuel Cradock, bum knee and all, got dragged into solving
them. Deep in the grip of winter Jarrett Creek is about to have still more
problems.
The town is bankrupt. The night before there had
been an emergency meeting of several of the town’s leading citizens at the
American Legion Hall to discuss how to pay for a police force when the town
barely has enough money to pay a couple part-timers. Mayor Reinhardt had come
up with a plan to have Craddock installed as police chief as he was very good
back when he did it before and has enough money he doesn’t need the salary.
Craddock wasn’t thrilled, but was willing to go along as it needed to be done.
But, the plan went sideways when Gary Dellmore, son
of Bank President Alan Dellmore, basically took over the meeting. He irritated
many in attendance and the meeting ended several angry residents and nothing
finalized. Things went downhill more when the acting police chief as well as
the two fulltime deputies all resigned after learning they would not be
paid. Then things really went downhill
when Gary Dellmore was found dead outside the American Legion Hall. While the legendary
law enforcement agency, The Texas Rangers (not to be confused with the Major league
Baseball teams that plays far to the north in Arlington) could help, they have
plenty of their own work to do on other cases.
As happened in the award winning A
Killing at Cotton Hill and The
Last Death of Jack Harbin it isn’t long before Craddock is back
working hard and irritating some folks with his questions. Questions in a far
reaching investigation that eventually turns up another crime. If the citizens
of Jarret Creek still had any innocence regarding life in their town what has
been going on behind their backs the last few weeks should permanently solve
the problem.
Third in a very good series, Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek
is mighty good. Blending in details of life in Texas in terms of characters and
the land with a mystery on top of a mystery author Terry Shames has created
another very good book in a series that just gets better and better. One has
the same expectation for the just released new book A Deadly Affair At Bobtail Ridge.
It is strongly suggested that readers should read
the books in order to get the most out of the reading experience. It is also
worth noting that these books are written in present tense which some readers seem
to have a bit of difficulty with based on some of the reviews and comments
across the internet.
Dead
Broke In Jarret Creek: A Samuel Craddock Mystery
Terry
Shames
Seventh
Street Books
October
2014
ISBN#
978-1616149963
Paperback
(also available in e-book)
265
Pages
$15.95
The publisher sent me an ARC to read in exchange for
my honest review sometime late last summer. Unfortunately, various events here delayed my
reading and reviewing this book until now.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
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