“This sensational small town crime thriller is a perfect beach read.” –Best ThrillersIt’s an unseasonably hot April night in 1965. The social revolutions rocking America have mostly bypassed Burr, a tiny rural community in western Oklahoma. Like much of the state, Burr remains as it’s always been: Religious. Conservative. And 100% white. When an unknown young African-American woman is found … 100% white. When an unknown young African-American woman is found murdered on the railroad tracks outside town, most of Burr would rather look the other way. The town’s police chief, troubled local hero and ex-Marine Emmett Hardy, doesn’t have that luxury. A lover of books and jazz in the land of football and country & western, Emmett is an outsider in a place he knows like the back of his hand. In his search for the killer, he’s forced to slice through layers of hate and hypocrisy to confront the ethical rot at the town’s core, while being haunted by the vision of a life and love that might have been.
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I’m almost at the end of this book and I hope there are more by this author. I love the writing style — realistic dialogue, good character description and wisecracking sense of humor.
Rather a different style of writing than I usually read, but thoroughly enjoyed, and will watch for more by this author.
Great, entertaining book.
My husband is from Oklahoma so I enjoyed the characters and the town names, having been there I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of little towns with odd names, it is a great story, it could have used a bit of proof reading but it didn’t detract from the story, I would for sure read other stories from this writer.
This book shows the sad reality of how often we deal with a group of people as if everyone in that group is the same. Some of the nicest people I have met have been minorities and some of the meanest as well. I’m a white guy and I have met some pretty mean white people as well. Skin color should not determine manners or anything else – except which box you mark on government paperwork!
Very enjoyable read. Protagonist very likeable. Well written.
Twisted, great ending.
This is a murder mystery but with a good ole boy twist , and no flat tires in the middle meaning its a page turner not what i expected i like it money wel spent
Loved the colloquial dialogue! Very accurately written for time.
I didn’t like it. Couldn’t get involved with story.
I loved this book. It is one of those ones that’s so easy to read, it’s almost stream-of-conciousness. And, you just don’t want to put it down. There’s also a lot of raw honesty revealed the attitudes of the day. This being a first book, I am excusing the need for better editing, and not deducting a star, I enjoyed it that much. And I will read the next book!
A ‘Sundowner’ town was a new term to me. Guess that is because I was born after the time of the book, and I am not black. It made me think about how far our race relations have come and what we have done to push it back. Why does one race have to feel superior?
The way the generations of families were described in the book it showed me that in a lot of ways times have just not changed. It was a gut-wrenching book of sadness.
Too much superfluous information, ended up skipping through a lot to get to the real story which was a really interesting story
Loved the characters; would like to read more about Chief Harney, Karen, Denny and others in the book. Didn’t like the number of corrections, like missing words, etc. Otherwise, great read.
Loved this – I’m from Oklahoma and loved the Okie-isms good story
This author may be from Oklahoma. I am, and he nailed how things are in Oklahoma! Really enjoying reading it!
Just OK
Well written story of cronyism, racism, and indifference to anyone but self. Author manages to hold our attention with laid back suspense and spots of unexpected humor. Story left me thoughtful but not devastated. 1965 to 2018: it seems that not much has changed, but yet it’s different. Waiting for more from this author.
It is probably just me, but I am a more traditional mystery reader and this though funny just wasn’t very exciting.
Well written. Kept a person’s interest from start to finish.