Somewhere buried in Kris Lackey’s first Bill Maytubby and Hannah Bond mystery, Nail’s Crossing, is a plot. That plot is underneath so many chase scenes that I lost count, including one chase scene with Maytubby piloting an airplane. But, I did like Maytubby, Bond, and Bill’s fiancee, Jill Milton, and their dry humor.

That dry humor fits the climate of Oklahoma during a long drought. Maytubby is a Lighthorse policeman of the Chickasaw nation. Bond is a county deputy who changes a tire for a woman on the road one night. Maytubby and Bond find the woman butchered, and their police investigation is to find her killer. It doesn’t matter when Bill learns her house wasn’t on tribal land, and the case is turned over to the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation. By that time, Bill and Hannah have chased suspects all over multiple counties, and into Louisiana.

Their first suspect is Austin Love, who had been seen with the dead woman, Majesty Tate. Love is a violent local meth dealer fresh out of prison. And, he knows all the country roads and hiding places as well as Bill does. It takes half the book for Maytubby and Bond to catch up with him. In the meantime, they add a couple suspects to their list, a man who claims to be a country preacher as well as several of Love’s old friends. Then, someone starts to eliminate Love’s former buddies.

There’s not a lot of character development in Nail’s Crossing. Actually, there’s not a lot of time for it because the characters are always on the road unless they’re eating breakfast someplace. I always appreciate dry humor, but it’s not enough to make up for the long stretches of time reading chase scenes. There are two more books in the series. As much as I liked Maytubby and Bond, I’m not interesting in chases. I think I’m just going to park this series, and let it sit.

Kris Lackey’s website is https://krislackey.com/

Nail’s Crossing by Kris Lackey. Blackstone Publishing, 2017. ISBN 9781982546403 (paperback), 240p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I bought my copy of the book.