11yo Junior Ransom is a good kid. He has been taking care of his alcoholic father since his mother died in childbirth 5 yrs ago, and he’s getting tired of it. Sheriff Roscoe Ransom returned to his small town after WWI a broken man. He drinks to numb the pain in his leg, as well as the pain in his heart left by the death of his wife. When a black man is horrifically murdered, and it appears that it was racially motivated, Sheriff Ransom promises the black community that he will solve the murder. However, can you trust the word of an alcoholic, especially one who is a share cropper on the land of one of the suspects? When Junior starts his own investigation and his persistence puts him in danger, will Roscoe finally put down the drink and save what’s important? Will he back off from solving the murder? The racial tension in this story is palpable…Roscoe credits his life to John, a black man who also came back from war broken, and gets flak from the white community for that friendship. Things get worse when Willow, the Native American woman who is Roscoe’s neighbor and has been helping take care of Junior since his mother’s passing, finally moves in with them, When Roscoe finally sobers up and solves the murder, the result will shock you.

This story will keep you spell bound until the end…as it did me! Definitely a re-read/listen. The narrator did a superb job of keeping you invested in the story.

I voluntarily accepted a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.