FATAL DIVISIONS

A Missouri sheriff seeking peace meets murder instead.

Everyone who cares for Sheriff Hank Worth wants him to take a break since he still feels guilty over the deaths of six teens killed in a car accident in A Deadly Turn (2019). He finally agrees to leave Branson and visit his college roommate, Jerry, in Columbia, mainly because his wife’s Aunt Fin, who also lives there, has secretly asked for his help. Aunt Fin fears that her husband, Lew, has something to do with the disappearance of his secretary, Tina Hardy. Fin is also worried about Lew’s business, Closeout Castle, which has been crippled by competition from internet sales, but Lew refuses to confide in her. Back in Branson, Hank’s deputy, Sheila, struggles to handle a sickout of personnel who are annoyed by her cutting overtime. Then deputy Sam Karnes finds an elderly man beaten to death, adding to Sheila’s problems. Clyde Timmons was a quiet widower whose main interest was playing bocce with his friends. Most of Sheila’s staff refuses to come to work, but she soldiers on, unwilling to ruin Hank’s break. Meanwhile, Hank has found plenty wrong with Lew’s business. When another murder back in Branson brings the two cases together, Hank returns home, not at all pleased to have been kept in the dark.

A pleasing procedural with thoughtful characters and enough plot twists to keep you guessing.