Greasy Bend

Set in the Oklahoma countryside, where it’s possible to track a car by the cloud of dust it’s raising on a gravel road, Lackey’s excellent sequel to 2017’s Nail’s Crossing charts the investigations of two different but equally able cops. Clever and resourceful Bill Maytubby, a Chickasaw Lighthorse police sergeant, is after the gang that shot down his boyhood pal while robbing a casino. Meanwhile, blunt and roughhewn Hannah Bond, a Johnson County deputy, aches to solve the brutal killing of her elderly friend Alice Lang. As the two separately gather evidence by watching the comings and goings of suspicious people, they discover that both murders were committed by the same gang of drug and gun runners, people who will happily kill anyone they catch snooping around. The accumulation of detail may be a bit hard to follow for those who don’t share the officers’ personal commitment, but they are convincingly thorough, and the two of them—along with Bill’s lover, Jill Milton—are likable, formidable characters. This one’s definitely a keeper. [em]Agent: Richard Curtis, Curtis Agency. (July) [/em]