Description:
Nineteen-sixteen was not shaping up to be a good year for Alafair Tucker, and finding Bernie Arruda dead in a ditch wasn't going to help matters. She had not wanted to come to Arizona in the first place. But her 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 nightmare trip from Oklahoma to Alafair's sister in Tempe, Arizona.Yet as soon as they arrived on that bright March day, Blanche began to improve.
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 U.S.And now here lies Bernie Arruda on his back in a ditch, staring into eternity.
Brief description:
Donis Casey is the author of ten Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Donis has twice won the Arizona Book Award for her series, and been a finalist for the Willa Award and a seven-time finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Her first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book in 2008. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, Arizona.
Review Quotes:
2003 Oklahoma Writers Federation: Best Unpublished Novel (Mystery/Susp), 2007 Arizona Book Award: Best Mystery/Suspense Novel, 2005 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist, 2005 Benjamin Franklin Award Nominee, & 2006 Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma Finalist for "The Old Buzzard Had it Coming"
2008 Arizona Book Award: Best Mystery/Suspense Novel, & 2008 Oklahoma Book Award Finalist for "Drop Edge of Yonder"
2010 Oklahoma Book Award, & 2010 WILLA Award, Historical Fiction for "Sky Took Him"
"Alafair's sixth (The Sky Took Him, 2009, etc.) will appeal to history buffs and Hillerman aficionados." -"Kirkus Review for Crying Blood"
"Powerful as a blue norther sweeping across the Creek Nation, Crying Blood is a gripping entry in Donis Casey's superb Alafair Tucker series. Casey depicts family ties that uplift and support and family ties broken by anger in a poignant, lyrical, authentic novel of early day Oklahoma.""--Carolyn Hart"