An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock

Starred review from October 31, 2016
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. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management.

November 1, 2016
A fire on the wrong side of the tracks starts an investigation that digs as deeply into the crime as it does into the people surrounding it.Though he's not a trained farmer, Samuel Craddock (The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake, 2016, etc.) is excited at the prospect of raising cows on the small plot of land he shares with his wife, Jeanne. On the day the livestock are to be delivered, Samuel, in his capacity as chief of police in Jarrett Creek, is called to Darktown to investigate a fire. Darktown is the unofficial area of town where the black folks live; though it's the modern era, Texas has yet to catch up. The fire is the least of Samuel's problems. He's beaten to the scene by highway patrolman John Sutherland, who takes an instant dislike to him and all the questions he's asking. Sutherland doesn't think investigating crime in the black community requires formal police attention, even when it's obvious the fire is arson and investigators find several bodies at the scene. Samuel's attempt to put pressure on Sutherland's investigation backfires when Sutherland hastily arrests Truly Bennett, a young black man Samuel is certain isn't connected to the crime. His own investigations persuade Samuel that everyone from the small town he thought he knew so well has something to hide--even the people he thought he knew best. A favorite of fans who like their police procedurals with a strong ethical center, Shames provides the back story of a Southern cop caught between his job and his culture.

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January 1, 2017

Despite being a prequel, this latest episode in the series, after The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake, winds back the clock to look at how now-retired Texas lawman Samuel Craddock became the moral man he is today. A fire that's soon determined to be arson in an area of Jarrett Creek known as "Darktown"--where all the black residents live--claims the lives of five young people and, owing to jurisdictional issues, the Texas Highway Patrol takes control of the case, much to Craddock's dismay. Craddock takes an instant dislike to the man in charge, patrolman John Sutherland, and the feeling is mutual. Sutherland is quick to blame the fire on Truly Bennett, a young black man who Craddock is positive isn't involved. But for Sutherland, skin color trumps facts and the case is as good as closed. Now Craddock is faced with a choice: Does he go along with Sutherland's conclusion or take a stand and fight for the rights of someone he believes is innocent? Readers familiar with the series may guess Craddock's ultimate choice (or will they?), but Shames skillfully makes the decision less about one man wrestling with his conscience and more about the racism that runs rampant in towns like Jarrett Creek. VERDICT Made even more pressing in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the current political climate, Shames presents an important exploration of the clash between personal conviction and cultural expectations, even when those assumptions are repugnant.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2016
Years before lawman Samuel Craddock, with his bad knee and his just-folks manner, became the star of Shames' popular series, he was a twentysomething just out of the air force and wondering what to do with himself. That's when the city administrator of Jarrett Creek, Texas, asked if he would like to be chief of police of this tinypop. 3,000town. This prequel finds Craddock moving tentatively through his first investigation, a fire that is likely a murder scene, and learning to snap back when other officers refer to his being hired as cradle robbing. He investigates in a manner that would become standard Craddock, interviewing anyone at hand until a pattern becomes clear. This time, though, the talk goes on a bit too long, and the result is a limpness in the narrative. Then a high-school girl nearly dies of a drug overdose, and Craddock shows what he's made of. Small-town secrets are vented, and we learn the realand sinisterreason Craddock was offered the chief's job. Solid backstory for series fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)