Review by Booklist Review
Senior-citizen Loretta Singletary is a beloved figure in Shames' engaging series of novels set in tiny Jarrett Creek, Texas. She's a coffee-and-cinnamon-roll buddy of Chief of Police Samuel Craddock. In past episodes, she's offered him crime-solving insights into the workings of their closed society. Now she's missing. Someone tells Craddock that Loretta was planning to have coffee "with a man she had met online," and suddenly the slow-spoken chief is rummaging in the slimy underbelly of computer dating. Predators rob lonely women of their money and sometimes their lives. The narrative becomes a procedural with Shames subtly ratcheting up the tension as Craddock calls on anyone who might know anything. His first stop is a youngster who can guide him through those infernal computers. Then another woman disappears. As often happens in Shames' work, the evil is found to originate in the bitterness of blighted lives, and here the finale is as touching as it is violent. Craddock is a slightly more cerebral version of the late Bill Crider's rural sheriff Dan Rhodes, but they share a bloodline.--Don Crinklaw Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A controversy over the upcoming goat rodeo brings Loretta Singletary to the doorstep of Samuel Craddock, the police chief of Jarrett Creek, Tex., in Shames's appealing eighth series mystery (after 2018's A Reckoning in the Back Country). As a longtime friend, Samuel can't help noticing Loretta's updated wardrobe and hairstyle, but she becomes defensive when he tries to compliment her. When Samuel later realizes he hasn't seen Loretta in days-she regularly brings him baked goods-his concern evolves from the worry about an unintended faux pas to that of her whereabouts. Samuel learns that Loretta began using an online dating site for small-town residents and was going to meet someone before she disappeared. Through the course of his investigation, Samuel wades into the foreign terrain of online dating. His anxiety builds when another woman from a nearby town disappears and turns up dead after meeting someone through the same site. Series fans and newcomers with a taste for well-wrought regional mysteries will be rewarded. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
It takes Police Chief Samuel Craddock a little while to realize his friend Loretta Singletary is missing, as he's caught up in a feud between two brothers. A new preacher in Jarrett Creek, TX, is also stirring up trouble about the local goat rodeo. But Loretta hasn't brought Craddock baked goods in a few days, and her friends are starting to fret. Seems Loretta found an online dating site for seniors and disappeared after telling others she was meeting a man. When a woman from the nearby town of Bobtail is found dead after she used the same dating site, Craddock cranks up the search for his missing friend. He needs to utilize the skills of his younger officers to uncover some surprises on a site he hopes will lead to the discovery of a living Loretta. This suspenseful homespun mystery features authentic characters, including Craddock, who narrates the story while being candid about his own shortcomings. VERDICT Shames's award-winning series (A Killing at Cotton Hill) will appeal to fans of Steven Havill and the late Bill Crider's "Dan Rhodes" mysteries.-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The dangers of internet dating surprise the chief of police in a small Texas town.Samuel Craddock is well-acquainted with the citizens of the area he patrols. Although he's solved tricky cases before (A Reckoning in the Back Country, 2018, etc.), his newest is especially disturbing because it involves Loretta Singletary, a friend he thought he knew well. Loretta's Baptist church has recently welcomed a new preacher, Arlen Becker, a stickler for doctrine who seems determined to stir up trouble by insisting that his church have a say in running the popular goat rodeo, whose current leader is Father Sanchez of the local Catholic church. While Samuel ponders that problem and works on a few other minor cases, he realizes he hasn't seen Loretta for several days. When he goes to her house, there are unwashed dishes in the sink, and her car and a suitcase are missing. Neither her sons nor any of her friends know where she's gone, but one of them remembers her mentioning a man she met on an online dating site. Samuel's concern deepens when he learns that a woman from neighboring Bobtail is also missing. With his pup, Dusty, by his side, Samuel works with the detective searching for the other missing woman. Once she's found dead, run over on a deserted stretch of road, Samuel's concern turns to fear. Every possible connection between the two women is explored and unexpected secrets uncovered as Samuel, his deputy, and the Bobtail police pull out all the stops in the hope of finding Loretta alive.A surprise ending makes this entry one of Shames' best in an enjoyable series that raises small-town problems and their solutions to an art form. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
