Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Release Date: February 1, 2025
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Kindle First Reads
Genre: Mystery
Two victims. Twenty years apart. One elusive killer.
Crescent Bluff, West Texas. Everybody knows everybody. And everybody has a secret.
When a boy is found dead with the skin of a hare’s head in his hand, everyone knows who killed him—Willis Newland, just released from prison after serving twenty years for an identical murder.
But what if everyone’s wrong?
Detective Colly Newland reluctantly agrees to investigate a case that seems to involve the whole town, including her dead husband’s extended family. But the deeper she digs, the more secrets she unearths. And as threats against her escalate, Colly realizes someone is willing to kill to keep theirs…
The Killing Plains is the debut novel by Sherry Rankin. It is a story set in Crescent Bluff, West Texas, where two murders twenty years apart force a Detective out of retirement in an attempt to solve the murders and bring closure to the family that blames her for the loss of her husband and daughter. The novel follows former Houston Detective Colly Newland. Newland (46) retired after the sudden death of her husband and daughter to focus on raising her traumatized eight-year-old grandson Satchel and prevent him from going down the wrong path.
Colly had no desire to return to Crescent Bluff, but her brother-in-law, Crescent Bluff's Chief of Police Russ Newland, guilted her into doing an informal review of the Texas Ranger's murder investigation which focused entirely on one person. Colly is pulled into a chilling murder investigation that mirrors a crime from twenty years earlier. A boy is found dead, and all fingers point to Willis Newland, slow, touched in the head- has been released from prison after 20 years for committing a murder against a young boy found in the same manner as the recent one.
He must be the killer, right? But Colly isn’t convinced. The deeper she digs, the more tangled the web of secrets becomes. Everyone has secrets, especially the Newland family. She then begins to receive warnings to back off, or else. Colly is a brilliantly complex protagonist, determined, vulnerable, and relentless in her pursuit of the truth. Her personal stakes in the case add emotional weight, while the supporting cast adds layers of intrigue and suspicion. The townspeople, each with something to hide, make for an unsettling backdrop that keeps the reader guessing.
When you think you’ve cracked the case, Rankin throws a twist that turns everything upside down. I thought I knew who the killer was, only to be thrown off the path by the author. The surprises are well-executed and feel organic to the plot, making the final reveal all the more satisfying. The novel’s atmospheric setting heightens the tension, showcasing how tightly woven communities can hide fractures that eventually erupt.
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