Donis Casey

Alafair Tucker knows her neighbor Harley Day is a drunkard and a reprobate. When his body is found frozen in a snowdrift, she isn't surprised. But as she helps prepare the body for burial, she discovers a bullet lodged behind his ear. Harley's death was no accident. Alafair's concern grows when his son, John Lee, becomes the prime suspect. John Lee is the boy her seventeen-year-old daughter Phoebe loves. Alafair initially fears only a broken heart for Phoebe, but her investigation into Harley's death reveals a darker truth. Phoebe may be more than John Lee's sweetheart; she might be his accomplice in murder.

Enid, Oklahoma, 1915. Alafair Tucker arrives for a family gathering, a sad duty to see her sister's husband, Lester, through his final days. Her daughter Martha is there to help with little Grace, but a question hangs in the air: Where is Kenneth, Ruth Ann's irresponsible husband? Whispers of shady dealings with the ruthless Buck Collins lead everyone to believe he's met a grim end. But Alafair senses a deeper truth. As she and Martha probe Kenneth's disappearance, they uncover blackmail, intimidation, and murder. Family secrets, twenty years in the making, begin to surface, forcing Alafair and Martha to confront dangers that will change their lives—and their relationship—forever.

The autumn air of 1915 chills as Shaw Tucker and his family discover a shallow grave, a skeleton, and a bullet hole in the skull. That night, an intruder stalks Shaw’s camp, vanishing into the darkness. The threat follows him home, leading to the capture of a young Creek Indian boy named Crying Blood. But before the law can intervene, a spear finds the boy’s heart. While the authorities hunt for a killer, Shaw Tucker trusts his gut, setting in motion a dangerous plan that his wife Alafair may be the only one able to stop. He sends her away, determined to confront the killer himself.

It's spring 1913, and Alice Tucker is captivated by the handsome, wealthy Walter Kelley. But her mother, Alafair, senses something amiss. Walter's late wife, Louise, was stabbed and her body hidden in Cane Creek, and though Walter has an alibi, Alafair suspects his involvement. She confides in her spirited mother-in-law, Sally McBride, and together they begin to unravel a web of deception. Alafair is determined to show Alice the truth about Walter, but the deeper she digs, the more she suspects the entire town has been hornswoggled. Lies and misdirection cloud the investigation, forcing Alafair to question everyone and everything as she battles to expose a killer hiding in plain sight.

In 1914 Oklahoma, a bushwhacker ends a pleasant outing by shooting Bill McBride, kidnapping his fiancée, and wounding Alafair Tucker's daughter, Mary. The bullet that grazed Mary also stole her memory of the event, leaving her with only a fragment: the Fourth of July. But the killer is still around, attempting to cover their tracks with further malicious acts. Alafair is determined to help Mary remember, and to protect her, even if it means confronting a vicious killer herself. The law pursues the bushwhacker, but Alafair will do anything to uncover the truth and ensure her daughter's safety.

Alafair Tucker deserves to stand beside Ma Joad in literature's gallery of heroic ladies. 1916: Alafair Tucker had not wanted to come to Arizona, but because of her young daughter Blanche's lung ailment, she and her husband Shaw bundled Blanche onto the train and made the nightmare trip from Oklahoma to Alafair's sister in Tempe, Arizona, hoping the dry desert air would help their daughter. As soon as they arrive, Blanche begins to improve, and Alafair is overjoyed to see her witty, beautiful sister Elizabeth again. For added excitement, a Hollywood motion picture company is shooting their movie right in Tempe. But Alafair and Shaw soon discover that all is not well. 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 there's Bernie Arruda, dead on his back in a ditch. The night before he had been singing Mexican love songs at the party in Elizabeth's backyard. Can Alafair connect all the pieces and discover a murderer before it is too late?

In the summer of 1916, a devastating tornado tears through Boynton, Oklahoma, leaving ruin and grief in its wake. But no one mourns Jubal Beldon, a man who made it his business to know everyone's ugly secrets. When the undertaker prepares to bury him, he makes a grim discovery: Jubal was already dead before the twister struck. Was it an accident, or was he murdered by someone whose secret he threatened to expose? As Sheriff Scott Tucker investigates Jubal's death, the prime suspect emerges as someone close to Beckie MacKenzie, the music teacher and mentor to Alafair's daughter, Ruth. Ruth fears the secrets unearthed will shatter Beckie's life more profoundly than the storm. Alafair, herself recovering from injuries, harbors her own suspicions about Jubal's demise. What if the truth of his death hits agonizingly close to home?

The U.S. has entered the First World War, and Boynton, Oklahoma, is torn between pro-war "patriots" and anti-conscription socialists. Alafair Tucker finds herself in the middle when her brother, a union organizer, visits. Her eldest son enlists, and her German-born son-in-law's farm is vandalized by the "Knights of Liberty." Meanwhile, Alafair's patriotic younger son, Charlie, takes a job at the Francis Vitric Brick Company, where suspicious machine breakdowns and murdered supervisors point to sabotage. While the town blames German spies or unionists, Charlie is certain he knows the culprit and plans to catch them. And who is the mysterious man in the bowler hat lurking in town?

The Spanish flu rages through Boynton, Oklahoma, claiming lives and isolating the town. Alafair Tucker fights her own war, tending to her sick daughter and son-in-law. But when screams from next door reveal the sudden deaths of neighbor Nola Thomason and her son Lewis, Alafair’s instincts scream murder. The overwhelming epidemic masks a more sinister truth. The town’s only doctor eventually confirms Alafair’s suspicions: poison, not the flu, took Nola and Lewis. The only witness, young Dorothy Thomason, is too traumatized to speak. Were they murdered for greed, jealousy, or hate? Or could it be the Raven Mocker, the dreaded Cherokee spirit that takes fiery flight to steal the lives of the sick and dying, hunting for its next victim?

World War I is over, and Alafair Tucker's elder son, George Washington Tucker, has returned home from the battlefields of France. But Alafair senses a profound change in Gee Dub, who now roams restlessly, haunted by his experiences. On a rainy day, he encounters a skittish woman named Holly Johnson, who has traveled from Maine to Oklahoma seeking the soldier husband who vanished after the war. Holly's only lead points to Okmulgee, and Gee Dub, desperate for purpose, resolves to help her, despite her prickly nature. Meanwhile, Alafair discovers her son sleeps with two cartridge boxes, each holding twenty empty "dead men" save for a single bullet, and she recognizes the unseen wounds of war in both Gee Dub and Holly. When Holly's husband turns up dead, Gee Dub is arrested, and the solitary bullet from his pillow is missing. Alafair knows not all war wounds are physical, and she will go to any lengths to protect her son, whether he is guilty or innocent.

Poisoned Pen Press marks its twentieth anniversary with a collection of original short stories from thirty-five authors. Some writers revisit established series characters, while others introduce new ones, exploring both dark and cozy mysteries. The anthology spans continents and settings, from Greece to Australia, and the Pacific Northwest to the Savannah low country. Authors include Kerry Greenwood, Laurie R. King, Carolyn Wall, and James Sallis. These writers, some returning after a hiatus and others established with loyal readers, share a passion for finely crafted tales of crime and murder. They are a community Bound by Mystery.

Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma, but a suave film producer's offer of stardom in Beverly Hills turns out to be a one-way ticket to a dangerous man. Six years later, Blanche has transformed into Bianca LaBelle, a reclusive film star, until a private detective arrives to question her about remains found on a Santa Monica beach. The producer, Graham Peyton, has been murdered, and suspicion falls on Bianca. Did she make him pay for her private wrongs? The Wrong Girl follows a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, showing just how risky—and rewarding—it can be to go off script.

Bianca LaBelle, star of the silent movie serial "The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse," and Rudolph Valentino, the screen's greatest idol, were finally making their first picture together in the summer of 1926. But at Bianca's Beverly Hills estate, Rudy confessed a dark secret: anonymous death threats. Within days, filming halted abruptly as Rudy fell deathly ill, a situation that was no coincidence. As Valentino lies dying, Bianca vows to uncover the truth. Was the culprit one of his many lovers, a delusional fan, or a mobster she knows all too well? With the aid of P.I. Ted Oliver, she plunges into an investigation, using her star power to unravel the mystery behind the apparent end of Valentino's charmed life.