Book Review: The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake by Terry Shames

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge,from Seventh Street Books, via Edelweiss, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it 




This new book doesn't come out until January, but it's perfect for pre-ordering, 
if you are buying any e-readers for anyone on your Christmas list!


The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake  cover



 Synopsis: 

>Nonie Blake is back home from a mental institution where she has spent the last twenty years, and people in Jarrett Creek are worried. Maybe too worried, for within a week of her return, Nonie is murdered.

     Chief Samuel Craddock thinks the only possible suspects are members of her tight-lipped family. Ever since Nonie tried to kill her sister when she was fourteen and was sent away to the institution, the family has kept to itself.

     Clues are scarce and Craddock is stumped. So he checks with therapists at the mental hospital to see whether they can add anything useful to his investigation. But he discovers that she has not been there for ten years. Now Craddock has to find out where Nonie has been all this time.

     Soon Craddock finds himself dealing not only with murder, but layers of deception and secrets, and in the midst of it all—a new deputy, one Maria Trevino, sent by the sheriff to beef up security in the small Texas town.



 Review

I had not read any of the Craddock series, so I didn't have any background of the characters, but this is really a standalone book, and the reader doesn't need to have read the other books (this is book 5 in the series). While the reader may guess what is going on by midway, you're still left trying to figure out the why of Nonie's murder, and how Craddock will be able to solve it. The book introduces a female officer into the small town character line up, and I will be very much looking forward to the next book, to see how she and Craddock continue to work with each other, and to see where Shames takes the possibilities of having a female office in the mix. 


About the Author:

Terry Shames is the Macavity Award-winning author of the Samuel Craddock mysteries A Killing at Cotton HillThe Last Death of Jack HarbinDead Broke in Jarrett Creek, and A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge. She is also the coeditor of Fire in the Hills, a book of stories, poems, and photographs about the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. She grew up in Texas and continues to be fascinated by the convoluted loyalties and betrayals of the small town where her grandfather was the mayor. Terry is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Visit her website for more info.

Comments

  1. Oooooh! This sounds like a really good curl up on the couch, cold, rainy day mystery!! I am not familiar with this Craddock series either, but I hope they are in my library!

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