Unraveled

August 1, 2016
In Wortham’s well-paced sixth Red River mystery (after 2015’s Dark Places), set in 1968, Constable Ned Parker has his hands full, between raising his grandchildren, Pepper and Top, and trying to keep the peace in the rural community of Center Springs, Tex. When a car runs off the bridge over Lake Lamar Dam killing Frank Clay, the white mayor, and his black secretary, Maggie Mayfield, local speculation runs rampant. Were they having an affair? Could it have been foul play? If so, who was the target: Frank or Maggie? The incident rekindles an ancient feud between the Clays and the Mayfields, and the body count rises. Some of the chapters are narrated by 15-year-old Top, who knows or is related to “most everyone” in these parts, and occasional introductory paragraphs give us insights into the killer’s mind. The book’s strength lies in Wortham’s ability to construct a world; it doesn’t take long for readers to feel like kinfolk. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates.

October 1, 2016

In Center Springs, TX, Constable Ned Parker investigates a fatal car accident involving mayor Fred Clay and his African American assistant, Maggie Mayfield. It is 1968, and the incident will rekindle a long-running feud between two families. This superbly drawn sixth entry in the series (after Dark Places) features captivating characters and an authentic Texas twang.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A sixth journey back in time to Center Springs, Texas, in 1968 reveals a family feud ready to claim more victims.There's been bad blood between the Clays and the Mayfields ever since a dispute over a lame mule Randall Clay sold Old Man Mayfield during the Depression. The simmering antipathy between the two clans flares into new life when a car runs off the roadway spanning the Lake Lamar dam, killing both Mayor Frank Clay and Maggie Mayfield. What were the two doing in the same vehicle, and why did whichever of them was driving lose control of the car? Despite the steadying influence of Constable Ned Parker and Sheriff Cody Parker, Wes Clay, the mayor's big brother, and Hollis Mayfield, Maggie's father-in-law, are each quick to blame the other family for the two deaths. And the bad blood between them darkens with the murders of Merle Mayfield, acting mayor Joe Bill Haynes, and, yes, Hollis Mayfield. Wortham (Dark Places, 2015, etc.) makes it clear from the beginning, however, that the real culprit is a loner calling himself the Wraith who's playing the Clays and the Mayfields off against each other for his own murderous ends. Readers anxious to spot the Wraith as 15-year-old Top Parker, Ned's grandson and Cody's nephew, might as well relax; the extended climax at the Patterson and Bates Dreamland Exposition will find them still shaking their heads in bemusement, trying to remember who's related to whom and who's carrying a grudge against whom.Despite the high body count and obligatory peeks inside the killer's mind, both mystery and suspense are subordinated to a leisurely survey of the locals, whose numbers seem only to increase as they're killed off. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016
A sixth journey back in time to Center Springs, Texas, in 1968 reveals a family feud ready to claim more victims.Theres been bad blood between the Clays and the Mayfields ever since a dispute over a lame mule Randall Clay sold Old Man Mayfield during the Depression. The simmering antipathy between the two clans flares into new life when a car runs off the roadway spanning the Lake Lamar dam, killing both Mayor Frank Clay and Maggie Mayfield. What were the two doing in the same vehicle, and why did whichever of them was driving lose control of the car? Despite the steadying influence of Constable Ned Parker and Sheriff Cody Parker, Wes Clay, the mayors big brother, and Hollis Mayfield, Maggies father-in-law, are each quick to blame the other family for the two deaths. And the bad blood between them darkens with the murders of Merle Mayfield, acting mayor Joe Bill Haynes, and, yes, Hollis Mayfield. Wortham (Dark Places, 2015, etc.) makes it clear from the beginning, however, that the real culprit is a loner calling himself the Wraith whos playing the Clays and the Mayfields off against each other for his own murderous ends. Readers anxious to spot the Wraith as 15-year-old Top Parker, Neds grandson and Codys nephew, might as well relax; the extended climax at the Patterson and Bates Dreamland Exposition will find them still shaking their heads in bemusement, trying to remember whos related to whom and whos carrying a grudge against whom.Despite the high body count and obligatory peeks inside the killers mind, both mystery and suspense are subordinated to a leisurely survey of the locals, whose numbers seem only to increase as theyre killed off.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016
Two people were killed when their car went off the road. One was the mayor of a country town in northern Texas, the other his female assistant. Accident or murder? What were they doing there at night? The mayor was white, his assistant black. You don't suppose . . . ? Here are the fixings for a fine detective story, but author Wortham spins off into a sociological study of rural America in the early 1960s. The old order is about to fade, but they'll make their hatred of the Beatles, war protests, and European soft drinks clear on the way down. Meantime, an old family feud is revived, we tour a traveling carnival, a boy is horribly hurt bymaybea snake bite. Readers who hang on for 200-plus pages of these days in the lives will be treated to a stunning finale, first in an evil fun house, then on a long stretch of oil-slick highway. Some will relish the many asides (How do you treat wounds with coal oil?), while others may cry, Get on with it! (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)