Good story though could be better written. ( )

While on night patrol Branson county sheriff Hank Worth stops a speeding car to find six teenagers inside. He decides to let them off with a warning. Less than thirty minutes later he responses to a call, a car has crashed. But the case gets complicated when another body is found in an apartment, and a seriously hurt girl is discovered. Are these incidents connected.
This is my first Hank Worth book and it can easily be read as a standalone story.
It took me a while to get into the story but it is well-written with a good plot line. The main characters are likeable with some depth. Look forward to reading more from the series.
A NetGalley Book ( )

This is a heartbreaking subject, but the characters pull through the story so realistically that it helps dull the pain of the loss of a carload of teenagers at the start of the book. Now Sheriff, Hank still takes on patrolling and other jobs to stay in the game. After letting the teens off with a warning, the emergency calls start coming in and he is plenty close to respond. Hank's a mess, Sam isn't himself yet and Shelia sure earns her Deputy Chief status by trying to keep them all together. There is the usual jockeying over jurisdiction that brings some new characters to the county. And then at home, Hank's father in law's sister has mysteriously turned up, not realizing what a hectic time this is the for the family. Not many light moments here, but I did find the eventual path to the end engrossing. ( )

“Anderson looked concerned, but not panicked. This was a man who took a lot of things in stride. Including the safety of his children. Wherever they thought Kayla was, it was apparently inconceivable to them that her well-being was the issue. Or any of the rest of her siblings. There looked to be several in the photos that covered the wall on the right side pf the entry hall.
Hank wondered how many people were actually blessed enough to live like that. Without the first thought being one of harm or tragedy. Certainly not him. (A Deadly Turn, Claire Booth, Chapter Seven, Page 33)”

It is a quiet Saturday night as A Deadly Turn: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery begins and Sheriff Hank Worth has pulled over a car full of teenagers. The six kids were cruising around, taking turns driving, and are guilty of speeding as they were flying along at more than twenty-five miles an hour over the speed limit. They had been having a good time as they sailed by his hidden police car and now that he has them stopped, it is clear they all understand that the fun is very much over. Good kids having a little fun and no need to scare them even more than they already are by writing tickets, calling parents, etc. He tells them to go home for the night and follows them for a bit making sure they are headed home.

A decision he will hate himself for in the coming hours and days. Just minutes after he stopped following them as he was sure they were headed home, the car was involved in a horrific crash. The brown sedan rolled at least once after hitting a boulder in the front yard of a house. Not a kid in the car is alive and the night has taken quite A Deadly Turn.

In the aftermath, Sheriff Worth is full of guilt and anguish about the deaths of the six teens. Did they die because he made a horrible error in judgement? He does not think it could be that easy as the kids were scared out of their minds by the simple traffic stop. They were very scared and he is sure they were headed home having learned their lesson. If that is true, then what happened? Something had to have occurred somewhere between the time he last saw them and the later car crash. The question is what?

A question that begins to gradually loom larger as the horrible process of notifying families begins. Not all is as it seemed when he made the stop and even the basic information on one of the deceased now appears to be incorrect. Things get very complicated very fast in A Deadly Turn.

This is the third book in an excellent series that began with The Branson Beauty. Unlike the first two books in the series, flashes of humor are nearly nonexistent in this one. The cast of characters from the earlier books are back here as are a couple of interesting new players in this evolving and complicated series. While the title clearly implies the car crash at the beginning of the book it also just as easily could apply to the intriguing hook at the end of the book. If that is any indication of what is to come, book four should also be one heck of a read.

As it is a series that builds on the foundation of Hank and his family, one really needs to start at the beginning. A Deadly Turn: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery is one heck of a read and very good.

A Deadly Turn: A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery
Claire Booth
http://www.clairebooth.com
Severn House
http://www.severnhouse.com
March 2019
ISBN# 978-0-7278-8845-7
Hardback (eBook format available)
288 Pages
$28.99

Material supplied by the author with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019 ( )