Alafair Tucker

Alafair Tucker is a strong woman and the core of her family's life on a farm in Oklahoma where backbreaking work and the daily logistics of caring for her husband and their nine children, and of being a good neighbor, requires determination and a clear head. She's also a woman of strong opinions, and it is her opinion that her neighbor, Harley Day, is a drunkard and a reprobate. So, when Harley's body is discovered frozen in a snowdrift one January day in 1912, she isn't surprised that his long-suffering family isn't particularly broken up. When Alafair helps Harley's wife prepare the body for burial, she discovers that Harley's demise was anything but natural: there is a bullet lodged behind his ear. And when she hears that Harley's son, John Lee, is the prime suspect in his father's murder, she grows concerned-her seventeen-year-old daughter Phoebe is in love with the boy. At first, Alafair's only fear is that Phoebe is in for a broken heart, but as she begins to unravel the events that led to Harley's death, she discovers that Phoebe might be more than just John Lee's sweetheart: she may be his accomplice in murder. But a man like Harley turns many people against him, and whoever said there are some things even a mother can't fix never met Alafair Tucker. Pitch-perfect for the Oklahoma frontier, Donis Casey's first novel in the Alafair Tucker mystery series is both a compelling mystery and a remarkable evocation of the hard work and family joys of life one hundred years ago.

It's the spring of 1913, and love is in bloom for Alice Tucker. Alice's new beau, Walter Kelley, is handsome and wealthy. Everyone in Boynton, Oklahoma likes him, except Alice's mother, Alafair. She sees that Walter has a weakness for the ladies-and they for him. Moreover, Walter's late wife Louise was murdered and the murderer has not been caught. Walter had an alibi, so the sheriff has cleared him of the crime, but Alafair is not so sure that he wasn't involved in some way. Alafair sets out to prove to the headstrong Alice that Walter is no paragon. You can bet Alice will have something to say about that. As she searches for the truth behind the death of Louise Kelley, Alafair uncovers such a tangle of deceit and misdirection that she begins to think that the whole town has been downright hornswoggled.

One August evening in 1914, a bushwhacker ends a pleasant outing by blowing a hole in Bill McBride, kidnapping and ravaging Bill's fiancé, and wounding Alafair Tucker's daughter, Mary. All Mary knows is that the crime had something to do with the Fourth of July. Or is there more? Trauma has locked away Mary's memory of the event, but the answer seems to be working its way through the fog of her shock and grief and floating to the surface of her consciousness. Meanwhile, several malicious acts suggest that Bill's killer is still around and attempting to cover his tracks. The law is hot on the bushwhacker's trail. Alafair is doing her best to help the sheriff, and has no qualms about driving Mary to distraction with her persistent snooping and constant hovering. Can Mary remember the crime before the murderer eliminates everyone who could identify him?

It's a sad duty that brings Alafair Tucker and her two daughters to Enid, Oklahoma, in the fall of 1915. Her sister Ruth Anne's husband, Lester, is not long for this world, and the family is gathering to send him to his reward. But her niece's irresponsible husband, Kenneth, has disappeared at a most inconvenient time. When it comes to light that Kenneth has been involved in some shady dealings with Buck Collins, the most ruthless businessman in town, everyone is convinced that Collins has done away with him. But Alafair suspects that things are not so simple. Over the next few days, Alafair and her eldest daughter, Martha, come face-to-face with blackmail, intimidation, murder, and family secrets that stretch back over twenty years. And in the process, they discover things about each other that will change their relationship forever.

In the autumn of 1915, Shaw Tucker, his brother, James, and their sons, go on a hunting trip to the derelict farm his stepfather had bought years before. Instead of a quail, Shaw's dog, Buttercup, retrieves an old boot with the bones of a foot inside. Her discovery leads the men to a shallow grave and a skeleton with a bullet hole in the skull. After settling in their tents for the night, Shaw awakens to see a pair of moccasin-clad legs strolling by his tent flap. He chases the intruder, who has disappeared so completely that Shaw wonders if he imagined the whole thing, including the ghostly voice that called his name. Even after he returns home, Shaw can't shake the memory of the disembodied legs and the ghostly voice. His concern is justified when he realizes that someone - or something - has followed him home. His dread turns to relief when he captures a young Creek Indian boy who says his name is Crying Blood. The boy had followed Shaw, hoping to find the white-haired man who killed his brother. Shaw ties the boy up in the barn, but during the few minutes he is left alone, someone thrusts a spear through Crying Blood's heart. Who murdered a boy right under Shaw's nose? The law is on the killer's trail, but Shaw Tucker has a hunch about the identity of the white-haired man who called his name, and he formulates a plan. Shaw's wife, Alafair, is the only one who might be able to forestall his dangerous plan. So when the opportunity arises, Shaw sends her on a wild-goose chase. As soon as she is out of the way, he sets out to confront the killer. Sometimes a man has to take matters into his own hands.

The year 1916 was not shaping up to be a good one for Alafair Tucker, and finding Bernie Arruda dead in a ditch didn't help matters. Alafair had not wanted to go to Arizona in the first place. But her ten-year-old daughter Blanche was suffering from a stubborn ailment of the lungs, and her best chance for a cure was dry desert air. So Alafair and her husband Shaw had bundled their sick child onto the train and made the difficult trip from Oklahoma to the home of Alafair's sister in Tempe, Arizona. As soon as they arrived on that bright day in March, Blanche began to improve. And Alafair was overjoyed to see her witty, brilliant, beautiful sister Elizabeth again. Adding to the excitement was a Hollywood motion picture company that was filming a movie on the streets of Tempe. But Alafair and Shaw soon discover that all is not well in sunny Arizona. Elizabeth's marriage is in tatters; tensions are high between the Anglo and Latino communities following Pancho Villa's murderous raid on Columbus, New Mexico; and Alafair suspects her sister is involved in an illegal operation to smuggle war refugees out of Mexico and into the United States. And now here is Bernie Arruda, lying on his back in a ditch, staring into eternity. The night before, he had been singing Mexican love songs at the party in Elizabeth's backyard, his black eyes flashing as he winked at the ladies. He had been a charmer, all right-too bad there were so many people who would be glad he was dead. Alafair decides to find the culprit.

Some secrets can come back from the grave.In the summer of 1916, a big twister brings destruction to the land around Boynton, Oklahoma. Alafair Tucker's family and neighbors are not spared the ruin and grief spread by the storm. But no one is going to mourn for Jubal Beldon, who made it his business to know the ugly secrets of everyone in town. It doesn't matter if Jubal's insinuations are true or not. In a small town like Boynton, rumor is as damaging as fact.But as Mr. Lee, the undertaker, does his grim duty for the storm victims, he discovers that even in death Jubal isn't going to leave his neighbors in peace. He was already dead when the tornado carried his body to the middle of a fallow field. Had he died in an accident, or had he been murdered by someone whose secret he had threatened to expose? There are dozens of people who would have been happy to do the deed, including members of Jubal's own family.As Sheriff Scott Tucker and his deputy Trenton Calder investigate the circumstances surrounding Jubal's demise, it begins to look like the prime suspect may be someone very dear to the widow Beckie MacKenzie, the beloved music teacher and mentor of Alafair's daughter Ruth. Ruth fears that the secrets exposed by the investigation are going to cause more damage to her friend's life than did the tornado. Alafair has her own suspicions about how Jubal Beldon came to die, and the reason may hit very close to home.