A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary

A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2019-04-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1633884910

A FAVORITE SERIES CHARACTER FINDS HERSELF IN HARM'S WAY. After using an online dating site for senior citizens, town favorite Loretta Singletary--maker of cinnamon rolls and arbiter of town gossip--goes missing. Chief Samuel Craddock's old friend Loretta Singletary--a mainstay of the Jarrett Creek community--has undergone a transformation, with a new hairstyle and modern clothes. He thinks nothing of it until she disappears. Only then does he find out she has been meeting men through an online dating site for small-town participants. When a woman in the neighboring town of Bobtail turns up dead after meeting someone through the same dating site, Craddock becomes alarmed. Will Craddock be able to find Loretta before she suffers the same fate? Finding out what happened to Loretta forces him to investigate an online world he is unfamiliar with, and one which brings more than a few surprises.

Guilt Strikes at Granger's Store

Guilt Strikes at Granger's Store
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2023-10-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1448311268

Trouble hits an animal feed store in a small Texas town, leaving Samuel Craddock grappling with a deadly mystery. "Suggest for fans of mysteries featuring small-town police forces, including novels by Claire Booth, Steven F. Havill, and Tricia Fields" - Library Journal Starred Review of Murder at the Jubilee Rally Chief of Police Samuel Craddock is perplexed by a series of increasingly troubling events at Granger's Store. The shop owner's son, Mark Granger, has plans to renovate and modernise the popular animal feed store in the small Texas town of Jarret Creek. But when he's assaulted, its clear that some town folk are against his ideas. Could the devastating fire that follows be linked to the threatening phone calls Mark has been receiving? When the body of an outsider originally from Jarret Creek is found in the scorched shop, Craddock's investigation takes a sudden deadly turn. Who is determined to stop the renovation at any cost, and why? As Craddock investigates, he unearths dark secrets stretching back thirty years . . .

Murder at the Jubilee Rally

Murder at the Jubilee Rally
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2022-10-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1448309581

Chief of Police Samuel Craddock faces a race against time to solve a perplexing murder at a motorcycle rally before the event comes to an end. "Suggest for fans of mysteries featuring small-town police forces, including novels by Claire Booth, Steven F. Havill, and Tricia Fields" - Library Journal Starred Review With the annual Jubilee Motorcycle Rally approaching, Jarrett Creek residents are divided. Some despise the rowdy, unsavory behaviour of the bikers, but they bring welcome money to local merchants. What's to be done? At a town meeting to find a solution, temperatures flare as Amber Johnson and Lily Deverell - family women on opposing sides of the debate - throw accusations at each other. Attempting to appease both camps, Chief of Police Samuel Craddock enacts a curfew to dissuade late-night revellers. Nevertheless, trouble strikes. With the rally in full swing, Amber is found murdered at the event. Why did Amber leave her home that night? What secrets was she hiding from her family? Craddock quickly faces more challenges as he offers to take in his rebellious teenaged niece, Hailey, whose parents are at their wits' end. He soon understands their pain. Can Craddock keep Hailey under control, or will dealing with her allow a murderer to escape justice?

The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson

The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2024-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1448311837

Was Maddy Benson asking for trouble? Everyone knows everyone in a small town like Jarrett Creek. So Chief of Police Samuel Craddock is perplexed when he receives a call from a woman asking the police to rescue her sister. Who is Maddy Benson? Maddy said she had to get away, but she didn't get far. When Craddock finds her just off the highway, she's already dead, shot in the head. And as he learns more about the mysterious Maddy and the real reason behind her recent move to Jarrett Creek, his career is plunged into jeopardy. Can he unravel a terrible knot of lies, threats, dangerous politics and shocking secrets to reveal the truth behind the troubling death of Maddy Benson?

Perilous Waters

Perilous Waters
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2024-04-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1448311810

FBI dive instructor Jessie Madison's survival skills are stretched to breaking point when she is plunged into danger in this exhilarating thriller - the first in a pulsating new series. Jessie Madison escaped to the Bahamas when she made a terrifying discovery at home and a bad decision got her dismissed from the FBI training program. Three months later, Jessie is ready to return to Virginia to pick up the pieces of her shattered life – until she and a friend are attacked during a boat ride and thrown overboard, with devastating consequences. Jessie is determined to bring their attackers to justice. Who are they? What were they looking for on the boat? And can she trust Nick, the handsome but enigmatic stranger who claims he wants to help her? Jessie must draw on all her survival and investigative skills if she is to stay alive long enough to get answers . . .

A Killing at Cotton Hill

A Killing at Cotton Hill
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2013-07-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1616147997

In this award-winning debut mystery novel, the chief of police of a small town is also an unreliable drunk. So when Dora Lee Parjeter is murdered, her old friend and former police chief Samuel Craddock steps in to investigate. He discovers that a lot of people may have had it in for Dora Lee—the conniving rascals on the farm next door, her estranged daughter, and her live-in grandson. And then there’s that stranger Dora Lee claimed was spying on her. As Craddock digs to find the identity of the killer, the human foibles of Jarrett Creek's residents—their pettiness and generosity, their secret vices and true virtues—are also revealed.

The Last Death of Jack Harbin

The Last Death of Jack Harbin
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2014-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1616148713

Small town mystery and veteran's issues collide as retired police chief Samuel Craddock investigates a murder. Right before the outbreak of the Gulf War, two eighteen-year-old football stars and best friends from Jarrett Creek signed up for the army. Woody Patterson was rejected and stayed home to marry the girl they both loved, while Jack Harbin came back from the war badly damaged. The men haven't spoken since. Just as they are about to reconcile, Jack is brutally murdered. With the chief of police out of commission, trusted ex-chief Samuel Craddock steps in--again. Against the backdrop of small-town loyalties and betrayals, Craddock discovers dark secrets of the past and present to solve the mystery of Jack's death.

Paper Ghosts

Paper Ghosts
Author: Julia Heaberlin
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2018-05-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0804178038

A Texas map marked with three red dots like drops of blood. A serial killer who claims to have dementia. A mysterious young woman who wants answers. What could go wrong? FINALIST FOR THE ITW THRILLER AWARD • “Fast and furious . . . You’ll never see what’s coming.”—The Washington Post Years ago, her sister Rachel vanished. Now she is almost certain the man who took Rachel sits in the passenger seat beside her. He claims to have dementia and no memory of murdering girls across Texas in a string of places where he shot eerie pictures. To find the truth, she proposes a dangerous idea: a ten-day road trip with a possible serial killer to examine cold cases linked to his haunting photographs. Is he a liar or a broken old man? Is he a pathological con artist—or is she? You won’t see the final, terrifying twist spinning your way until the very last mile. Praise for Paper Ghosts “Paper Ghosts is a riveting summer read that shows Texas in a powerfully intimate light.” —The Austin Chronicle “[An] artful and elegiac psychological thriller . . . riveting.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[Paper Ghosts] elevates the often tawdry genre of the serial killer novel to a work of art.”—Sunday Express (UK) “Texas has yet again bred a major American noir writer.”—D Magazine “[Heaberlin has] developed a distinctive literary voice, one that is on full display in Paper Ghosts.”—Houston Chronicle “Entertainingly unnerving.”—The Dallas Morning News “Strong characterisation, haunting images, a wonderful sense of place, and some dark comedy make this travelogue-cum-psychological thriller well worth the read.”—The Guardian

An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock

An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock
Author: Terry Shames
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-01-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1633882098

"In this prequel, a young Samuel Craddock, as the newly elected chief of police in Jarrett Creek, must investigate the murder of five black residents and confront the ingrained prejudices in the small Texas town"--

The Bird Boys

The Bird Boys
Author: Lisa Sandlin
Publisher: A Delpha Wade and Tom Phelan Mystery
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Brothers
ISBN: 9781947627130

Sometimes the truth is not the truth, but murder is always murder. Which of the brothers carries the bloody knife?