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In the fall of 1915, Shaw Tucker goes on a hunting trip on property that his stepfather purchased a few years ago, before leaving it to ruin. Not long into the outing, one of the hunting dogs sniffs out a shallow grave. The body has been in the ground for at least ten years, and there’s no real hope that the remains will be identified. Later that night, Shaw encounters a shadowy figure who whispers his name in the darkness. Unnerved, he ends the hunting trip early to report the find—but something follows him home.
Back with his wife, Alafair, and their ten children, Shaw continues his life, working on the farm and preparing for the long winter ahead. But he discovers that someone or something might be moving around his property at night. After a harrowing incident in the barn, Shaw becomes worried about the safety of his wife and kids. Determined to find out who those bones belong too, he sets out to trap a killer who, for all intents and purposes, appears to be among the dead, also.
Crying Blood is an altogether different kind of mystery, set in a time when vehicles had barely taken a toehold and the flashlight had just been invented. For people like Shaw and Alafair, solving a murder with limited resources—especially when the case has grown so cold—takes more thinking power than a medical examiner’s limited help. But they still manage to solve the murder by shifting through vague clues and coming up with theories until all of the pieces fall into place.
Shaw and Alafair work together well as husband and wife—and as partners in solving mysteries that touch their lives on some level. Alafair’s gentle nature calms her husband when they need to get answers and a tough approach won’t work on someone unwilling to give them. And Shaw gives Alafair her independence, which can also help unravel mysteries.
Though it’s a mystery, with a large, loveable family of characters, some of the scenes in Crying Blood made the hair on the back of my neck stand up as icy chills cascaded down my arms. A creepy mood weaves in and out of the tale, leaving the reader with a sense of unease. The dark, spooky tone, along with the complicated mystery, makes Crying Blood a hard read to put down. I look forward to reading more about Shaw and Alafair in future mysteries.
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