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Fatal Undertaking
Mark De Castrique
2010, 232 pages
Fiction
Former Charlotte cop Barry Clayton (nicknamed Buryin' Barry in grade school) has returned to his hometown in the North Carolina mountains to help run the family funeral parlor and serve as a part-time sheriff's deputy. The body in Barry's casket at the Jaycees' House of Horror isn't sitting up to scare the kids anymore, because someone has plunged a Buck knife into Jaycee president Carl Atkinson's back. Barry's put in charge of the murder investigation which catches the media's attention, including Barry's ex-wife Rachel. Is there a connection between this murder, the recent death of a local war hero and the problem the county is having with Christmas tree rustling? What will happen when Rachel crosses paths with Barry's girlfriend Susan?
This an enjoyable police procedural influenced by small-town politics and interesting small town characters. It is the fifth in the Buryin' Barry series. If you like the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron, give this book a try, or start with the first, Dangerous Undertaking, and work your way forward.
