As Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store by Terry Shames opens, Wendy is frantic. Samuel Craddock has been dating her for a couple of years now and has never heard her like this before. She is very upset and for good reason.

Her daughter, Allison, is in jail in Monterrey, Mexico. Chief of Police Samuel Craddock has some influence locally, but Mexico is far out of his jurisdiction and sphere of influence. Apparently, Allison was in some sort of auto accident. She is okay, but in custody because she did not have Mexican auto insurance. The authorities take a dim view of this kind of situation. Finding out what is going on as well as how to help, if he can, is going to take time.

At the same time, a far more urgent matter, and one that is in his jurisdiction comes up while he is talking to Wendy and trying to calm her fear. A few months ago, Melvin Granger had a stroke that resulted in him being bedridden. The prognosis for Melvin is not good.

His son, Mark, moved back home from Houston to take care of Dad and run the Feedstore. Word has gotten around that Mark has big plans for the store. He plans to update it and add some sort of gift shop, among other things. None of his plans should have caused anybody to attack him, yet that is exactly what has happened.

Found by his sister, Chelsea, who is just now also home to take care of dad as well as to talk to Mark about his plans, he was on the floor of the store this very morning. Mark had a cut on his forehead and was very dazed. Mark and Chelsea were to meet and go over his renovation plans. Not that their meeting would have moved her, in all likelihood. She is very much against the idea of any changes. The fact that this happened reinforced her belief that this idea of Mark’s is a bad one.

It might be, according to the attackers, as one of the two men who attacked Mark also told him to leave town. Before he is loaded into the ambulance, Mark tells Chief Craddock that there have also been a couple of strange and threatening phone calls. Clearly, somebody wants the store left as is and is not taking no for an answer.

As the situation with Wendy’s daughter in Mexico gets stranger by the day, so too does the situation with the store in Jarret Creek, Texas. The result is Sameul Craddock is forced to juggle both deals and a couple of other things in Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store. So much for that idea that small town life is easy.

A long running and very good series that began with A Killing at Cotton Hill, this tenth book in the series is another solidly good one. No new ground in character development is broken here as the majority of these characters were fleshed out long ago. Instead, the primary focus is on the mysteries of what happened with Alison south of the border and what happened at Granger’s store. Each is a satisfying mystery in its own right.

This latest book in the series very briefly references earlier events, but does so in such a way that one could easily read this one first if new to the series. For long time readers, it is a much-needed treat to go back to Jarret Creek and the life of Samuel Cradock and friends. Guilt Strikes at Granger’s Store is strongly recommended, as is the entire series.

My reading copy came as an ARC from the publisher, Severn House, through NetGalley.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2023 ( )