Buryin' Barry Mystery
2 primary works • 3 total works
Book 4
When Barry Clayton's father developed Alzheimer's, Barry gave up his career in law enforcement to return to the North Carolina mountain town of Gainesboro and run the family's funeral home. But even a small town in the Appalachians is not immune to crime. At a summer street dance, Barry's friend Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins is gunned down by an old man distraught at the death of his wife. To the dismay of Deputy Reece Hutchins, hospitalized Tommy Lee appoints Barry as the deputy in charge of the investigation. Who was the old man stalking? Who was the young woman who was wounded at the scene? What at first appears to be a case of a mentally unstable summer tourist quickly develops into a tangled web of deceit stretching from western North Carolina to the Florida coast. Someone is preying upon senior citizens. Barry realizes Deputy Hutchins is undercutting his investigation. Then potential witnesses and informants begin to die under mysterious circumstances and Barry must confront a conspiracy that runs so deep he can't trust anyone. One false step, one betrayal could make this Buryin' Barry's final undertaking.
Book 6
'You want to borrow a casket?" Funeral director and part - time sheriff Barry Clayton finds Jaycee member Archie Donovan's request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees' haunted house, a charity event with all proceeds going to the children's hospital. But when the president of the Jaycees is found murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends upon Gainesboro to cover the bizarre crime. Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins assigns Barry to be the lead investigator of a case that presents no motive and no suspects. Then someone fires a shot at Archie Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket was even the intended target. Barry finds his police work and personal life on a collision course as his ex - wife Rachel comes to town with high hopes of using the story to launch her TV network career. She begins prying into the lives of Gainesboro's most distinguished citizens and creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Barry Clayton must follow a trail of clues as winding as a forest path. The unexpected destination: a mountainside of Christmas trees. Somewhere behind them lurks a killer.
Unmasking him may be a fatal undertaking.
Unmasking him may be a fatal undertaking.