Genre: Coming-of-Age/Mystery/Romance
Description:
“When attorney Cullen Molloy attends his fortieth high school reunion,
he doesn’t expect to be defending childhood friends against charges of murder…
In a small town on the high plains of Eastern New Mexico, life and
culture are shaped by the farm roads defining the 640-acre sections of land
homesteaders claimed at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Cullen and Shelby
Blaine explore first love along these section roads during the 1960’s, forging
a life-long emotional bond.
As junior high school band nerds, Cullen and Shelby fall under the
protection of football player and loner, Buddy Boyd. During their sophomore
year of high school, Buddy is charged with killing a classmate and is confined
to a youth correctional facility. When he returns to town facing the prospect
of imprisonment as an adult, Cullen becomes Buddy’s protector.
The unsolved case haunts the three friends into adulthood, and it
isn’t until their fortieth reunion, that they’re forced to revisit that
horrible night. When a new killing takes place, Cullen, Shelby and Buddy find
themselves reliving the nightmare.
Murder is an easy thing to hide along old country section roads.”
Author:
An eastern New Mexico native, Mike Murphey spent thirty years as an
award-winning newspaper journalist.
Appraisal:
This is a great story. It happens at three different points in time
with things that happened during all three periods coming together to solve the
mystery at the root of the story. You’ll be jumping back and forth between the
three different periods, but each chapter makes it clear when the events in
that chapter are happening, so keeping track of where you are in time isn’t as
difficult as in some books like this. Along with the mystery you’ve got a
coming-of-age story for all the characters with how they went from being small
town kids struggling to figure life out to reasonably responsible adults. If
you’ve ever visited eastern New Mexico and have some sense of the geography and
culture there, or really any small town, you’ll find the story draws you in
even more. I was especially amused when one of the characters went to a
restaurant in Las Cruces, New Mexico in the south-central part of the state and
it was a place I’d actually been to myself many years ago. A great story that
kept me engaged every step of the way.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
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