Murder at the Jubilee Rally - (Samuel Craddock Mysteries) by Terry Shames

About the Book

Some residents of Jarrett Creek hate the annual Jubilee Motorcycle Rally and the crowd it attracts; but some businesses need the money it brings. Chief of Police Samuel Craddock enacts a curfew to dissuade late-night revellers, but it doesn't stop a Jarrett Creek citizen being killed at the rally. Can Craddock solve the case before the rally ends?

Book Synopsis

Chief of Police Samuel Craddock faces a race against time to solve a perplexing murder at a motorcycle rally before the event comes to an end.

With the annual Jubilee Motorcycle Rally approaching, Jarrett Creek residents are divided. Some despise the rowdy, unsavory behaviour of the bikers, but they bring welcome money to local merchants. What's to be done?

At a town meeting to find a solution, temperatures flare as Amber Johnson and Lily Deverell - family women on opposing sides of the debate - throw accusations at each other. Attempting to appease both camps, Chief of Police Samuel Craddock enacts a curfew to dissuade late-night revellers.

Nevertheless, trouble strikes. With the rally in full swing, Amber is found murdered at the event. Why did Amber leave her home that night? What secrets was she hiding from her family?

Craddock quickly faces more challenges as he offers to take in his rebellious teenaged niece, Hailey, whose parents are at their wits' end. He soon understands their pain. Can Craddock keep Hailey under control, or will dealing with her allow a murderer to escape justice?

Review Quotes

A surprise ending makes this entry one of Shames' best in an enjoyable series that raises small-town problems and their solutions to an art form-- "Kirkus Reviews on A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary"

Craddock's understated first-person narration, the vivid secondary characters, and a nicely drawn small-town setting . . . Should win Shames new fans-- "Publishers Weekly"

Readers new to the series will find themselves quickly at home in Jarrett Creek-- "Publishers Weekly on A Reckoning in the Back Country"

Series fans and newcomers with a taste for well-wrought regional mysteries will be rewarded-- "Publishers Weekly on A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary"

Shames's award-winning series will appeal to fans of Steven Havill and the late Bill Crider-- "Library Journal on A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary"

Shames's superior sixth Samuel Craddock mystery [is] a timely story with resonance in the era of Black Lives Matter-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review of An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock"

About the Author

Award-winning author Terry Shames is the author of eight previous Samuel Craddock mysteries. As well as winning the Macavity Award for Best First Novel, A Killing at Cotton Hill was also nominated for The Strand Critics Award. The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake won the RT Critics Award for Best Mystery. Her books have also been nominated for Left Coast Crime Awards for Best Mystery.

Terry grew up in Texas, and her Samuel Craddock series is set in the fictitious town of Jarrett Creek, which is based on the small town where her grandparents lived. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Mystery Writers of America.