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Mike Hardin is AWOL from his job as an Arm CID agent, home because his wife is pregnant, and roped in by his sister the sheriff] to help her solve a case that other agencies want to solve for her.
Hardin has been sleeping outside, in the rain, drunk for the better part of a case of whiskey. He is AWOL and in no hurry to return to Germany; his commanding officer will cover for him. What could possible make him sober up?
Family. His sister Linda is the new sheriff in Morehead, KY - does the name Choctaw Ridge ring a bell? First woman to be sheriff there. First murder where everybody doesn't know who the killer is right off the back. Lots of agencies and people want to be the one to handle this case. Linda wants to solve it first, and that means tapping the skills her brother has as a homicide investigator.
The man who found the body is a ginseng hunter. He knows more of the local history than anyone else around; people tend to die young in this neck of the woods. Younger than their parents or their grand-parents. Because this is "hill country" and clichés come out of truth, the gene pool is not only not very wide, it's not very deep, either. Trying to draw a family tree for any one family may well wind up looking like a spiders web. Touch one strand and the effect may not present as a straight line, which can be and is dangerous as Mike pokes around.
If the reader pays attention, it is possible to figure out who killed Veronica "Nonnie" Johnson, (formerly Turner). An affinity for wonky nick-names and the idiosyncrasies of mountain folk is a decided asset, as is some skill in genealogy. The setting is, as it almost has to be, an integral part of the back story. Land matters to the characters. Relationships also matter; Mike has to deal with his very pregnant wife and her story while he tries to track down the killer. Not everyone will be happy with how it all ends. Life is like that. Take time to relish the odd bits of humor that Offutt strews like morels under the mayapples.
§ PJ Coldren has been reading and reviewing mystery fiction for over a quarter of a century and reads broadly within just about all genres and sub-genres. She lives in Northern lower Michigan with her spousal unit, one large cat, and 2 fairly small dogs.
Reviewed by PJ Coldren, May 2021
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