An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock
A Samuel Craddock Mystery
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When the Jarrett Creek Fire Department is called to douse a blaze on the outskirts of town, they discover a grisly scene: five black young people have been murdered. Newly elected Chief of Police Samuel Craddock, just back from a stint in the Air Force, finds himself an outsider in the investigation headed by the Texas Highway Patrol. He takes an immediate dislike to John Sutherland, a racist trooper Craddock’s fears are realized when Sutherland arrests Truly Bennett, a young black man whom Craddock knows and respects. Sutherland cites dubious evidence that points to Bennett, and Craddock uncovers facts leading in another direction. When Sutherland refuses to relent, Craddock is faced with a choice that will define him as a lawman—either let the highway patrol have its way, or take on a separate investigation himself. Although his choice to investigate puts both Craddock and his family in danger, he perseveres. In the process, he learns something about himself and the limits of law enforcement in Jarrett Creek. From the Trade Paperback edition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shames's superior sixth Samuel Craddock mystery (after 2016's The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake), a prequel set possibly during the early 1970s, explores a significant case at the start of the retired police chief's career. After a period of addressing mostly idyllic small-town concerns, Craddock struggles to respond to a drug problem at the Jarrett Creek, Tex., high school, as well as a multiple-victim murder and arson case in the town's Darktown section, where the black citizens reside. Due to jurisdictional issues, patrolman John Sutherland of the Highway Patrol takes charge of the murder investigation, though usually Texas Rangers would handle it. When Sutherland arrests a man that Craddock believes to be innocent, Craddock must determine whether to pursue a case that many people close to him, including his wife, wish he would drop. Skilled depictions of the lawman's formative choices and emotions enhance a timely story with resonance in the era of Black Lives Matter.
