Forty Dead Men

Starred review from November 20, 2017
In Casey’s excellent 10th Alafair Tucker mystery (after 2017’s The Return of the Raven Mocker), 22-year-old George W. “Gee Dub” Tucker, a WWI vet scarred by his war experiences, returns to the family farm in Boynton, Okla., run by his parents, Alafair and Shaw, with the aid of their large brood of children. One day, Gee Dub meets Holly Johnson, a wary traveler who’s making her way from Maine to the nearby town of Okmulgee, where she thinks her husband Dan’s family lives. Dan, who served in France, disappeared after the war ended, and she wants to discover what happened to him. Gee Dub tries to help Holly find Dan, but becomes the prime suspect when Dan turns up shot to death, and Alafair determines to clear him—or, if he’s guilty, destroy the evidence. Casey expertly nails the extended Tucker family—some 20 people—and combines these convincing characters, a superb sense of time and place, and a solid plot in this marvelously atmospheric historical.

February 1, 2018

Alafair Tucker's large Oklahoma farming family is pleased to have the oldest son, Gee Dub, back home in 1918, but as the mother of ten children, Alafair knows something is wrong. The Gee Dub who returned after fighting in France is not the son who left. He spends his days roaming the area, until he meets Holly Johnson, a young woman who traveled from Maine to find her missing husband, Daniel Johnson. Gee Dub becomes fascinated with Holly. When the local sheriff informs Holly her husband's body has been found, she shows him a picture of a different man. But, in tracking down Daniel, Gee Dub and Holly discover that he is already married. Soon after, Daniel is shot to death. Gee Dub, the main suspect, won't provide an alibi. However, Alafair will do anything to see that her oldest son doesn't go to prison for murder. VERDICT The latest homespun entry in Casey's historical series (following The Return of the Raven Mocker) is a bittersweet examination of the results of PTSD on a returning soldier. Fans of Charles Todd's "Ian Rutledge" mysteries will recognize Gee Dub's symptoms and take to this heartrending character-driven mystery.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2017
Oklahoma farm wife Alafair Tucker is delighted that her son Gee Dub (short for George Washington) is home from WWI, despite his distracted demeanor. The only spark of life Alafair sees in Gee Dub occurs after a young woman traveling from Maine asks for directions to her husband's family a town away, and Alafair insists the girl rest at the Tucker's farm before continuing her journey. When Holly does find her husband's family, she learns he died of influenza before he ever made it homeexcept the picture Holly carries of her groom isn't of the dead man who had her husband's discharge papers in his pocket. The real husband is soon found shot to death, and a disoriented Gee Dub is the only suspect. A compassionate look at PTSD, this tenth series entry again showcases the savvy mother hen Alafair, who has a lot in common with Mette Ivie Harrison's Linda Wallheim, another loving western mother whose curiosity and common sense always come in handy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)