THEIR FEET RUN TO EVIL

A placid Arkansas delta town is rocked by a child’s grisly murder in this series mystery set in the late 1950s.

Holland’s latest novel finds White military veteran–turned–police chief Big Ray Elmore on high alert after the body of Esther Alice King, a young Black girl, is discovered floating facedown in the local river with blunt-force head trauma. The chief, who’s still tormented by symptoms of PTSD from his war experience, isn’t used to such horrific crime in his small town, but he’s quick to begin his investigation with fellow officer Curtis Jim LaBelle, questioning locals who last encountered Esther, a girl who was just a bit older than his own sons. Holland’s enthralling mystery quickly springs into action with plenty of dramatic developments and plot twists. The racist town sheriff, Cecil Cooper, and the county coroner drag their feet on the investigation, and Elmore suspects that abrasive local Carl Trimble and others in a racist “nocturnal organization” may be involved. Short, clipped chapters keep the pages turning as Elmore digs deeper into the town’s history of bigotry; meanwhile, his married life becomes messy as his feelings for Carl’s abused wife, Grace, a former flame, get more complicated. Add in a lengthy drought and a “rainmaker” who has more dirt on the local townsfolk than anyone else, and the result is a mystery with brio to spare. The dialogue is rife with old Southern vernacular and derogatory innuendo that suit the time and place, and although the book is a bit overlong, it’s a solid addition to Holland’s impressive oeuvre, which also includes a forensic mystery/thriller series starring Dr. Kel McKelvey. The author’s characterization and plotting are on-point as he draws on his expertise as a forensic scientific director with the Department of Defense to keep the details accurate.

A thrilling Southern whodunit anchored by a grizzled, whip-smart main character.