Death in Comanche County

Written by the winner of Oklahoma’s Book of the Year in Fiction, 2013, Crimes of Redemption. When someone brutally murders fragile retiree Effie Lawrence in Comanche County, Oklahoma, suspicion falls on the neighbor/caretaker who found her body--Cheryl Jackson, a disgraced former basketball star trying to pull her life together. Since the local Kiowa Police Chief isn’t looking at anyone else for the crime, Cheryl is forced to dig for the truth herself. Stunned to link Effie’s death to a treasure of ancient Mexican coins, Cheryl finds a Pawnee guide to decipher an 80-year-old map and navigate the nearby Wichita Mountains, a haven for outlaw loot in Indian Territory times.

As she edges closer to what happened, not only is Cheryl attacked and beaten, but also her friend Silas, a stubborn Auschwitz survivor who loved Effie. Add a mystery woman kidnapped and held in a basement; a creepy, chain-smoking junk store owner; a greedy nephew and his wife; and an AWOL soldier missing since the 50’s, and it may prove impossible to unravel this fifty-year mystery. It will take town locals, Native wisdom and know-how, and Cheryl’s own grit and intuition to find the truth, and herself, again.