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The Drop Edge of Yonder
An Alafair Tucker Mystery

by Donis Casey



      Most age groups can / should read. This story shows and gives moral lessons and values that all too many of us have forgotten in the rush and crush of today's world. It goes back in time, like a long forgotten time capsule come to life; and has a gripping story to share with all of us who want to remember how things were and how in many ways they should be again, if only we could look deep enough inside of ourselves to see what we are made of.

Donis Casey has done it again. She has created a simple masterpiece which takes the reader backward in time to a simpler place and mindset. Mary, Alafair's daughter, witnessed a murder and was wounded in the process. Because of the wound and fear, she cannot remember it, and her life is in jeopardy because she witnessed the event. The answer it seems is just under the surface, if only Alafair can get to it in time and without losing her daughter to the killer, who has Mary in his sights. Alafair Tucker has become a masterful detective, who has solved two other cases of love gone wrong and life souring events for another family in the small country town of Boynton, Ok. She now takes another journey into the minds of her children, their assorted family and relatives, to unravel the truth of what really led to Bill McBride getting shot. When did all of this hate and misfortune really start? Is it recent, like many would want to think, or did it start a very long time ago, when young McBride was out traveling on business and sort of came into a problem? Young Mary is hovering on the top of a precipice and wanting to open the door to her memory, but can't quite get her mind to work yet. What were the other lads of the town being stalked for and was there any connection to some seemingly innocent accidents? Will McBride's killer be able to eliminate everyone remotely involved before he gets caught, or will he scoot away once the work is done and all the possible victims have been taken care of? Do Shaw and the Sheriff have any ability to stop this young bushwhacker before he completes his dastardly endings? Will young Laura, McBride's fiancée, kidnapped during the killing of her love, ever come back into her mind after these shocking and tragic events or will those painful events have a long-lived and lasting effect on her whole life?

The Drop Edge of Yonder is a wonderful book and Ms. Casey has outdone herself, again, simply by drawing on the stories which have come down in her family through the generations, and bringing them to life again for the rest of us who were not lucky enough to live in that simple era and time. I have praised her writing and storytelling ability until, I would guess, you are all sick of my repeating the same thing over and over, but I have to say again, this story is brilliant and gripping and a mystery worth all of your attention. Ms. Casey has a way with words and prose which takes you on a journey towards the familiar, and leaves you wanting to look into your own history to see if there were places and times with similar stories that can be looked into. I am awestruck by Ms. Casey's pen and mind and don't mind repeating it if / until my own life events claim me. Again, she is a very masterful writer and if you want to do yourself a favor this fall, get The Drop Edge of Yonder and read it on a crisp afternoon, sitting in the sun on your porch in that rocking chair. It will keep you turning the pages, wanting to read faster and be totally uninterrupted while on your journey.

The Book

Poisoned Pen Press
October 2007
Trade Paperback
1-59058-446-5 / 978-1-59058-446-0
Historical Mystery - 1914 Oklahoma
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Reviewed 2007
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