I first chose a Chris Kelsey title because it was set in 1960 in Burr, Oklahoma. I'm always interested in how authors portray small town Oklahoma since I've lived in one for many years of my life. BUT, I continue to read the Emmett Hardy series because it's GOOD!!!!
Burr is set in western Oklahoma where the desert keeps the characters scratching for a living amongst the snakes, both reptile and human. Burr is populated with a set of characters that are as far from Mayberry as you can get. Emmett Hardy is not Andy Griffith. The 1960's were a time of turmoil for the United States, but not for Burr. I recognized the characters, I've met people just like them.
It's 1976 and all of America is celebrating the Bicentennial, when one of Burr's local politicians is assassinated in public. The local police shoot a homeless woman and call the case closed. But Emmett will work his way into questioning the results........irritating everyone along the way.......until he takes one step too many.

If you haven't read any of these titles, you are missing out on some of the best books in anyone's library.

Thank you NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for access to this book a week early in exchange for an honest review.

This was another great book that takes us back to Burr, Oklahoma with our favorite characters. The author brings us back to 1970’s Oklahoma like few other books have. He allows us to walk alongside characters as they weave together figments of the past while they relate it all to the latest case to hit the streets of Burr. Everything may not always be at it seems, and lucky for them Chief Hardy is there to help make sense of it and ensure justice is just before it is served. Couldn’t put this book down from the time it was opened; can’t wait to see he takes us next.

When a local Senator with a very shady past is assassinated by a young girl apparently off the streets, local police chief Frank Emmett soon finds himself embroiled in something much bigger than it first appears.

This is 1970's Oklohama, a very provincial setting, rife with small-town bigotry - and hate. Soon his trainee Joel is arrested for having a connection to the deceased. Unfortunately he does, but the main reason for picking on him seems to be because he is Black....

At the same time when the charred body of a homeless man is discovered at a derelict property that somehow spontaneously combusted, evidence again points to murder. And the trail to further murders continues.

Here is a case that seems to. Implicate virtually the whole town, but Emmett is determined to get to the bottom of what is going on. So determined that ultimately danger seems to have no meaning for him....

There is a great deal of sly wit in places, mainly at the expense of the haters. Fifty years on, very little changes, except that maybe the smearing is higher up.

The story and ending did seem to drag a little, though there is a satisfying climax involving a suitable evil adversary. On the whole it's a prey, entertaining read.