Lesa's Book Critiques: The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin

Review: The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin

The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin takes readers to West Texas and the town of Crescent Bluff. Colly Newland does not want to be back there as the place brings up bad memories. Her late husband, Randy, came from there and his wealthy family controls everything for miles around. While he was physically living with her and their children in Houston, he never escaped the family and their dark secrets.

 

Now retired and a widow, former Houston Detective Colly Newland and her grandson, Satchel, are back on a temporary basis. They are back for two weeks or so and that means Satchel will be in the local school while Colly is working. Once a cop—always a cop.

 

Police Chief Russ Newland, brother of her dead husband Randy, asked her to come home and investigate a cold case of sorts. Many years ago, another brother, Willis, who had special needs, confessed to killing a local boy. Eventually, the governor commuted his sentence because of the family wealth and powerful connections.

 

Willis returned home, and shortly afterwards, another local child died. There were very close links to the first case so suspicion quickly fell on Willis. He soon committed suicide before authorities could clear him or build an actual case based on facts of his guilt. The Texas Rangers, the lead investigating agency, believed Willis was responsible for the killings both times, decades apart, and closed the case.

 

Iris Newland, family matriarch and no pushover, believes Willis never did any of it. She pushed Russ hard to call Colly and convince her to come back and review everything. Iris did not accept it in 98 when Willis went to prison. In here and now of the book set in 2018, she does not believe it now either. E of it. She knows that Willis did none of it. She has pushed Russ hard enough that Russ now has questions about it all based on what the closed investigation turned up.

 

Being back is emotionally hard on Colly, Satchel, Russ, Iris, and pretty much everybody. Beyond Willis, there is plenty of pain and guilt to go around for everybody. For Colly, who needs some sort of healing most of all, it is a chance to deal with the ghosts and the legacy of the past, as well as stop a murderer as things get more and more complicated.

 

Iris just might have been right. If she was right about this, what else was she right about?

 

A complicated atmospheric read, The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin makes much of its West Texas setting based on the author’s long experience in the area teaching creative writing and literature. That means that the obligatory rattlesnake roundup, a feature of nearly every mystery and crime fiction novel set in West Texas, rears its head here and serves, as expected, to be a pivotal moment. So too does the weather in a variety of forms.

 

The Killing Plains by Sherry Rankin is a solidly mystery read that is well worth your time. This reader hopes that there is a sequel so that we get to see more of Colly, her grandson Satchel, and others in a book to come.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3PKy3eN

 

My digital ARC came from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, through NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Review: The Devil’s Country by Harry Hunsicker

Former Texas Ranger Arlo Baines was just passing through Piedra Springs, Texas, with nothing more on his mind than enjoying the peace and quiet and a good book. Haunted by the memories of his deceased wife and children, he just wants to be left alone as he drifts from place to place. With just five folks in the only bar in the tiny West Texas town, if he counted himself and the bartender, he thought the odds were in his favor. He also thought the threat posed by any of the clientele was low to nonexistent.

That was until Suzy took more than a passing interest in him. She is clearly trouble in more ways than one and is also in trouble herself. It is also obvious to the former lawman that the man she is with is a significant problem. A problem that is not just going to go away on its own as the interest that Suzy showed in him was a small piece of the far bigger issue. Predictably, it is not long before the situation has moved outside to a parking lot outside the bar. Then things really go sideways and pull the disgraced former Texas Ranger into a hideous mess involving the Russian mafia, a cult, multiple murders, and more.

The Devil’s Country is very reminiscent of a Reacher series book. Loner, with a military or, in this case, over a decade in law enforcement by the way of the Texas Rangers (the real deal and not the baseball team in Arlington), comes into town, and just wants to be left alone. Alone to nurse his drinks, his thoughts, and his haunted memories of the past. All is fine until there is a person in distress that needs help. Usually the person is a woman which triggers our loner hero’s need to be a knight in shining armor to protect the fair damsel. Upon intervening, the loner hero runs afoul of the local law (who may or may not be as crooked as a dog’s hind leg). Arrested the first time (loner hero will spend lots of time arrested) and then released for whatever reason, said loner seeks to have questions answered and garner support. As it happens, many of the local populace are either part of the unspoken nefarious deeds, criminal conspiracy, or on the outside  and powerless to stop it as they are heavily weighed down emotionally, or physically, or financially, or all of the above. Said loner begins to wage a one person war to fight back for justice and intends to destroy the evil doers so that the place can be turned back over to the few good folks living in the area. Loner hero will have some help along the way that almost always will include at least one female, who may or may not, become physically intimate with the loner as she understands him and seeks to heal him at least a little bit.

All that, like in a Reacher series novel, is certainly present in The Devil’s Country. All that being said, even when you know the framework and can predict with a high degree of accuracy how things are going to play out, author Harry Hunsicker throws a few curveballs while unleashing a fast moving and very entertaining story. Violent and complicated, the read moves forward at a rapid pace as Arlo Baines works to solve the many unspoken mysteries of Piedra Springs.

The second book in the series, Texas Sicario, is due out on January 15, 2019.

The Devil’s Country

Harry Hunsicker

http://www.harryhunsicker.com

Center Point Large Print

http://www.centerpointlargeprint.com

April 1, 2018

ISBN# 978-1-68324-744-9

383 Pages

$37.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

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