Thicker Than Blood

A young woman looking to re-build her future gets caught up in a decades-old mystery.


1952, a season of murder in the small, West Texas town of Moseby, and Annabelle Rafter knows more about it than even she realizes. As Dr. Hunt Rafter's wife, she's seen plenty of children coming into the world and sewn up more ruffians than she'd like, including Henry Runyon, her best friend, Sally's, wayward brother-in-law. Henry Runyon has gone missing, though only the stars know he lays in the tall grass, a victim of his own bad deeds. And the murders of an entire family remain unsolved as 1952 fades into decades without answers.

In 1988, the horrors of 1952 hang heavy in the air as Texas Ranger Peter Clemmons arrives in Moseby shortly after a skeleton gets discovered outside of town. He's convinced the skeleton holds the key to the mystery of the 1952 murders, a mystery his grandfather investigated but never solved.

Peter isn't the only newcomer. Mary Runyon, newly alone in the world, follows the clues in some old letters to discover her one remaining relative, her long-lost grandmother, Sally. Guided by Sally and her best friend Annie (Annabelle), Mary seeks to re-build her shattered life. And when Mary gets caught up in the same mystery with Peter, she joins him in probing Annie for the secrets the doctor's widow seems to keep.

Weaving between the past and the year 1988, this mystery novel tells the stories about love and loss that make up any well-lived life.