SUGAR BEAR JACKSON, THE FIRST COLLEGE -EDUCATED SHERIFF IN ROMULUS, ALABAMA, HAS TWO MURDERS TO SOLVE AND A TOWN FULL OF VOTERS TO KEEP HAPPY.
Sugar Bear must solve the murder of the town drunk and wife-abuser, Burl Campbell, who is found dead on the day his ex-wife just happens to arrive back in town. She is in the middle of a romance that makes it look like the usual story until it is discovered that her new love has been sending monthly checks to the deceased. Complications arise for Sugar Bear and his team including false confessions, an annoying psychic, enticing offers for early retirement, a woman from the sheriff's past, and even another murder before it is all sorted.
Excerpt
Sugar Bear Jackson checked the time on the dash as he stepped from his squad car. 3:49 a.m. Forty-five minutes earlier the 911 operator had called him, saying that Burl Campbell, Creek County's meanest drunken excuse for a human being, was murdered. A disguised voice reported it, the 911 operator had said. Sugar Bear and his chief deputy Bill Johnson would listen to the tape later. But now, they stood outside the cabin where the murder had taken place, waiting for the coroner to tell them what they already knew. Burl Campbell was dead because his head was smashed in. An odd-looking hole.
Jackson glanced at his wristwatch as he leaned against his vehicle. The early hour meant nothing to him, since his department answered calls at all times. Sheriffs were re-elected that way, and he was no exception in wanting to be re-elected. He was re-elected every four years for the past five elections, the last two without a serious opponent. Ballots even read, ³Sugar Bear Jackson,“ although no one remembered how he got his nickname. Someone claimed to have seen him play football in college and said that was his nickname when he played, but it did not matter where or when the name originated. The name just fit. Always would.
Sugar Bear, whose real name was Robert, was the first African-American elected to public office in Creek County and the first college graduate elected as sheriff in the county. The fact that his degree came from a small, prestigious liberal arts college made his education seem that much more significant to the people in a sparsely populated, rural place like Creek County. Everyone knew he turned down athletic scholarship offers from Alabama, Auburn, and several other Division I schools, in order to get a liberal arts education. He carried the county's significant African-American vote because he earned it, not because he was African American. He had a reputation of being tough on deadbeat, neglectful parents, tough on abusive spouses both men and women and vigilant with kids who cut school.
Professional Reviews
Real Sense of Place
Great story with a real sense of place. The characters are very real. I look forward to reading more about Sugar Bear.
Great characters, and story that pulls you along until the end
Great characters, and a story that pulls you along until the end. Well worth reading!
Book three in series. Excitement and tension begin on the first day of filming a Restoration drama on location at the historic Jacobean mansion, Ham House in Surrey.
