This week, my blog really is Kevin’s Corner Annex. He has the stage until Thursday. Thank you, Kevin, for the review of Tricia Fields’ The Drummers.

As The Drummers: A Josie Gray Mystery by Tricia Fields begins, it is January in Artemis, Texas, and
cold with overcast skies. The cold snap is not something Police Chief Josie Gray or any of the other locals
want as they prefer the sunshine and warmth the rugged and of southwest Texas near the Big Bend region
normally provides. They want the cold and nasty weather gone. Many of the locals also want the new
group known as “The Drummers” to leave.
The group recently brought the church in the heart of the small town, moved in, and made it clear they
were not going to socialize much if at all. In recent days, the group has been acting stranger and stranger
and the locals are getting increasingly fed up and want them gone. The memory of what happened in
Waco decades ago still lingers in the minds of anyone in office and that is certainly true for Chief Gray.
A small group of a little more than twenty people, they are led by a man who now goes by the name of
“Gideon.” While he claims they only want to live off the grid and want nothing to do with technology of
the United States Government, the locals think they are a dangerous commune at best or a cult at worst.
Not only do they have small children in the church when the windows have been painted black and all the
outside door knobs and handles have been removed, they have guns. A lot of guns are being stockpiled
inside the building and far more than the number of folks living there. Clearly, the group is planning for
something big, but what nobody knows.
The last thing Police Chief Josie Gray wants is another Waco style siege and assault in her town. But what
The Drummers want is unknown as signs indicate more and more that they might be some sort of
Doomsday type group bent on creating havoc. The fact that they can identify one member who has a
warrant for charges means they have that legal way to enter. Unfortunately, gunfire erupts, a member of
The Drummers is killed, and what starts as a local issue quickly escalates with ramifications across our
entire country.
Complicated and enjoyable as ever, this book marks a long awaited return of Police Chief Josie Gray and
the good folks of Artemis, Texas. Much like author Bill Crider, Terry Shames, and Frank F. Havill did in
their books, author Tricia Fields built an entire series on a fictional place that is very real to the reader. In
this series, family and relationships as well as characters that evolve and change from book to book are
just as important as the mystery case is in the read. It has been far too long since Midnight Crossing was
published and this reader is very thankful that seven house brought readers back to the Southwest desert
country of Texas via Police Chief Josie Gray. As always, a love of the land and the people that reside
there comes through as does another very good mystery that packs in quiet a few surprises along the way.
Highly recommended as is the series.

My reading copy came by way of the Dunbar Branch of the Dallas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2021, 2023