Thursday, May 8, 2014

Hell with the Lid Blown Off: An Alafair Tucker Mystery by Donis Casey

It's 1916 and a tornado comes to town.  There are several dead after the disaster and Jubel Beldon won't be missed.  However, it seems he was dead BEFORE the tornado arrived.  His death is murder, not nature caused...

Poison Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published June 3rd, so check with your local bookstore then for a copy.

Ms. Casey writes more about the people involved than she writes of the mystery.  You get swept up in the story of their lives, motivations, and you worry about them.  Jubel is mean man.  He and his brothers bother a young girl turning into a woman by making suggestive comments to her.  When she ignores them and tries to get on with her life, he suggests telling everybody that he's laid with her and thereby ruining her reputation and any chances for marriage.  He blackmails a young man who has a male friend with him while visiting his aunt by saying they have a homosexual relationship.  He forced another family to fire their help and send their "slow" boy away by insinuating the son was sleeping with the help.  There's no end of suspects in his killing.

Trying to solve a murder is hard enough to do on its own, but now they are picking up pieces of homes, trying to rebuild, and squishing families together in the homes that still stood.  How can they investigate if they can't even get the road cleared?

I found the mystery to be muddy, too.  More than one person confessed to the murder.  It wasn't a clear solution to me.  But I'm not sure I really care.  The bad man and his brother are dead, the good people are alive, and life can go on.  Alafair and her family are fine, so life is good.  I'm sure there will be another book in this series and then I can read a bit more about this family I've adopted.

Happy reading.

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