Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 6/26/2017 + 1031 more book reviews

Set in Oklahoma in the early 1900s, this is the ninth in the series featuring Alafair Tucker. I like it for its sense of place and time - Casey does a great job delineating what it might have been like to farm near a small town a hundred years ago. Alafair tends her house and her ten kids, her husband farms and tends his family. In this book, it's 1918; the Tucker boys are fighting overseas in WWI. The town is doing what it can to prepare for the flu epidemic, but when it hits it's very bad. Alafair moves into town to care for her stricken daughter. When death occurs next door, Alafair goes to render what aid she can...but she is pretty sure these deaths were not from the flu.

This book felt so real to me. The fear of infection, the lack of medical personnel, the folk remedies, and the depiction of what must have been just exhausting battles every day to keep death at bay. I loved Alafair's competence in taking care of people and her absolute determination to never give up. The mystery element here isn't the main theme of the book, and maybe the mystery isn't the strongest one in the series, but it is still interesting. Casey provides us several suspects before we get to the end.

New readers could start here as there is a helpful list of characters and their relationships in the front. But I'd recommend starting from the beginning of the series, it's well worth it.

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