Hornswoggled: An Alafair Tucker Mystery [Paperback]

Donis Casey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2007

It's the spring of 1913, and love is in bloom for Alice Tucker. Alice's new beau, Walter Kelley, is handsome, popular, and wealthy. Everyone in Boynton, Oklahoma, likes him. Everyone but Alice's mother, Alafair. She sees that Walter has a weakness for the ladies--and they for him. Moreover, Walter's late wife Louise had been stabbed in the heart and her body disposed of in Cane Creek only a few months earlier. The murderer has not been caught.

The sheriff has cleared Walter of the deed--he has an alibi. But Alafair is not so sure that he wasn't involved in some way. Something literally doesn't smell right. Could it be Louise's tormented spirit signaling clues from the other side, or is Alafair scenting a more direct link to the crime?

Even if he had nothing to do with his wife's death, Alafair judges Walter to have been a bad husband and, with the help of her feisty mother-in-law, Sally McBride, Alafair sets out to prove to the headstrong Alice that Walter is not the paragon she thinks he is. You can bet that Alice has something to say back.
As she searches for the truth behind the death of Louise Kelley, Alafair uncovers such a tangle of lies, misdirection, and deceit that she begins to think that the whole town has been downright hornswoggled!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Adult/High SchoolThe author evokes Oklahoma of almost a hundred years ago and peoples it with wonderfully diverse characters with intertwined relationships. Alafair Gunn Tucker, mother of 10 and amateur sleuth, is concerned that one of her daughters is falling for a recently widowed barber who may have killed his wife. Partly in an effort to protect Alice, Alafair pursues the clues left behind by the killer (or victim), and the mystery she unravels seems to tie half of the town to the murder. There are moments of farce and elements of danger. Readers can almost smell the scent of death on the bloodstained rug and taste the homemade butter and potato patties (recipes included). The book provides an entertaining way for teens to appreciate the richness of life in this time and place. The idioms and local color are delightful, and the characters are real enough for readers to fear for their safety.--School Library Journal

From the Inside Flap

Alafair is skeptical of her daughter’s new beau, Walter Kelly. Walter may appear charming and he is wealthy, but Alafair can’t stop thinking about his last wife whose body was found in Cane Creek only a few months earlier.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (October 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590584716
• ISBN-13: 978-1590584712
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,660,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Donis Casey is the author of five Alafair Tucker Mysteries, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, Hornswoggled, The Drop Edge of Yonder, The Sky Took Him, and Crying Blood (Feb. 2011). She has twice won the Arizona Book Award for her series, and been a finalist for the Willa Award and the Oklahoma Book Award. Her first novel, The Old Buzzard Had It Coming, was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book.

While researching her own genealogy, she discovered so many ripping tales of settlers, soldiers, cowboys and Indians, murder, dastardly deeds, and general mayhem that she said to herself, "Donis, you have enough material here for ten books." The resulting historical mystery series, set in Oklahoma in the booming 1910s, features the sleuthing mother of ten children.

Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She was born and raised in Tulse, Oklahoma, and now lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer.