The Last Death Of Jack Harbin

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.

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?

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

The small town of Jarrett Creek is bankrupt. Samuel Craddock thought he was retired but now he's been asked to return as police chief. Gary Dellmore, heir apparent to the main bank, is dead, apparently murdered. Dellmore supposedly had a roving eye, although his wife says he was never serious about dallying. Still, Craddock wonders: Did the husbands and fathers of women he flirted with think he was harmless? What about his current lover, who insists that Dellmore was going to leave his wife for her? Craddock discovers that Dellmore had a record of bad business investments. Even worse, he took a kickback from a loan he procured, which ultimately drove the town into bankruptcy. Many people had motive to want Dellmore dead. Then the investigation turns up another crime. As Craddock digs down to the root of this mess, many in Jarrett Creek are left wondering what happened to the innocence of their close-knit community.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the crimes! Join the award-winning Austin Mystery Writers and friends as they explore the dark side of the Lone Star State. These thirteen talented authors penned fourteen tales of cowboys and criminals, girlfriends and grifters, morticians, motel clerks, and even a big, bad wolf! Lone Star Lawless includes stories by the Austin Mystery Writers: Gale Albright, V.P. Chandler, Kaye George, Laura Oles, and Kathy Waller. The friends who contributed are: Alexandra Burt, Janice Hamrick, Scott Montgomery, Mark Pryor, Terry Shames, Larry D. Sweazy, George Wier, and Manning Wolfe.

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 . . .

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.

When the Jarrett Creek Fire Department is called to douse a blaze on the outskirts of town, they discover a grisly scene: five black young people have been murdered. Newly elected Chief of Police Samuel Craddock, just back from a stint in the Air Force, finds himself an outsider in the investigation headed by the Texas Highway Patrol. He takes an immediate dislike to John Sutherland, a racist trooper Craddock’s fears are realized when Sutherland arrests Truly Bennett, a young black man whom Craddock knows and respects. Sutherland cites dubious evidence that points to Bennett, and Craddock uncovers facts leading in another direction. When Sutherland refuses to relent, Craddock is faced with a choice that will define him as a lawman—either let the highway patrol have its way, or take on a separate investigation himself. Although his choice to investigate puts both Craddock and his family in danger, he perseveres. In the process, he learns something about himself and the limits of law enforcement in Jarrett Creek. From the Trade Paperback edition.