Butcher Pen Road (Bill Maytubby and Hannah Bond Mysteries, #3)

by Kris Lackey

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Butcher Pen Road is the third book in the Maytubby & Bond western murder mystery procedural series by Kris Lackey. Released 13th July 2021 by Blackstone, it's 200 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats (paperback due out in July 2022).

I came into the series with this book, the third, and as such, struggled to keep the characters and their interrelationships straight in my mind in the beginning. There's not much backstory given in this book and all the settings and personal characteristics have to be gleaned from context. The writing is good, but delivered in staccato bursts and sentence fragments which might take some getting used to on the reader's part. The setting (rural Oklahoma, including tribal land) is palpable and the author does a very good job with the background descriptions of setting and place.

This is a multi-agency investigation, and a fair bit of the bandwidth is taken up by inter-departmental jockeying and bickering. It's nice to see the interplay and cooperation and trust between the main characters tribal Sergeant Bill Maytubby and local county Deputy Hannah Bond. The character motivations and underlying plot elements are not relayed in a straightforward manner and are often a bit lost in the chaotic narrative. I had some difficulty winnowing out the salient points and even after the denouement and resolution I was unsure why the initial murder -"needed"- to happen at all.

There is a tried and true trope in modern fiction of the local police being treated as bumpkins and the feds sweeping in and taking over to the detriment of the crime investigation and justice, but that wasn't my biggest problem with the book. Although it's very well written, the non-linear plotting and scene-hopping were confusing to me and negatively impacted my enjoyment. This was, however, a good read for me and I enjoyed it, and I intend to carry on with the series.

I recommend it to fans of western (USA) police procedurals with indigenous characters, just don't expect it to be Hillerman or even Craig Johnson. Fans of both of those authors will find lots to enjoy here though.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.