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Hell with the Lid Blown Off: An Alafair Tucker Mystery    by Donis Casey Amazon.com order for
Hell with the Lid Blown Off
by Donis Casey
Order:  USA  Can
Poisoned Pen, 2014 (2014)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

I always enjoy the Alafair Tucker mysteries. So homey and caring. Although Alafair's family continues to grow, she still manages to keep an eye on each and every one of her ten children and, now, their spouses and her grandchildren. Where does her energy come from? I guess one just does what needs to be done.

In the summer of 1916, a huge twister does monumental damage in Boynton, Oklahoma. Every available able person leaps to help and make sure that those who have lost their homes and livelihood are provided with clothes, food, water and repairs. Those whose homes were completely destroyed are settled with more fortunate families.

It's easy to write these words, but living through a big tornado and then doing what needs to be done to rectify the damage is a monstrous task. But in a lovely sense of community, everyone here looks out for those in need. Unfortunately, a man is found who seems to have been murdered! Jubal Beldon was not a popular person, to say the least. He gloried in digging up dirt on others and then blackmailing them. If he found nothing, he would make up some scurrilous lie and spread that around.

So, a multitude of persons might like to see him six feet under -and be willing to make that happen. Suspicions race through Boynton as to who the murderer could be. Will the revelation do more harm than the good of catching a killer?

I enjoyed the old-time names of the characters listed in the front pages of the novel. Hell with the Lid Blown Off, seventh in the series, is another top drawer chapter in the life of Alafair Tucker.

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