Terry Shames’ last Samuel Craddock mystery, A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary, came out in 2019. I couldn’t be happier that Severn House picked up the series. Shames’ latest, Murder at the Jubilee Rally, proves that neither she nor Craddock have missed a step in the last few years.

As Chief of Police in Jarrett Creek, Texas, Craddock attends the City Council meeting with a controversial topic on the agenda. It’s almost time for the annual Jubilee Motorcycle Rally out at the lake, and the town is divided on the subject. The local “Shut Down the Town” committee failed to get the state to shut down the rally, so now they’re hoping to get the town to ban motorcycles for the week. But, business people such as Amber Johnson, owner of the local convenience store, depend on that week’s income. It looks like there might be a fight right there in the meeting, until Craddock suggests a compromise. How about a curfew? The businesses close at 8 PM, with a few exceptions.

Samuel goes out to the rally on the first day, and doesn’t see too much cause for worry. Yes, the hired security team is striking, but the rally found a competent replacement. He isn’t too worried about it now that he’s been out there.

He does have a bigger worry on this mind. His nephew, Tom, is having trouble with his sixteen-year-old daughter, Hailey. She’s drinking and sneaking out to be with an older man. So, Samuel offers to take her for the week, not even thinking about the motorcycle rally.

But, he has to think about the rally when he gets a call in the middle of the night that a body has been found. Maybe people at the rally don’t know the victim, but Craddock recognizes one of the Jarrett Creek citizens. Now, with thousands of people at the rally site, he’s caught up in a murder investigation. Was the killer from the rally, or someone in town who had a beef with the victim? And, what is he going to do with Hailey while he investigates?

Shames skillfully mixes the politics of Texas and small-town policing with Craddock’s family problems. It’s a well-written police procedural that doesn’t skimp on the humanity. How do you inform a needy family of a loved one’s death? How do you investigate, knowing you might tear a town apart? And, how do you handle a troubled teenager?

Murder at the Jubilee Rally marks the return of an empathetic small-town police chief. It’s so good to have Samuel Craddock, and Terry Shames, back again.

Terry Shames’ website is https://www.terryshames.com/

Murder at the Jubilee Rally by Terry Shames. Severn House, 2022. ISBN 9781448309344 (hardcover), 256p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I reviewed a galley for a journal.