Nail's Crossing: a Novel

August 1, 2017
Two Oklahoma police officers from separate forces work together to solve a series of bloody crimes in Lackey's debut.Bill Maytubby, an officer in the tribal Lighthorse Police of Chickasaw Nation, is a clever tracker and book lover with catholic interests. He's investigating the murder of Majesty Tate, who was stabbed to death with a custom-made Bowie knife that Maytubby believes belongs to Austin Love, a meth dealer seen with the victim. Maytubby's friend Hannah Bond, a tough 6-foot-plus county deputy, has strong feelings about Majesty's death because her own sister was raped and murdered. Along with colleagues from several other police forces, the two chase Love all over southern Oklahoma in a series of wild rides over dirt roads and through creek beds. When they finally catch him, he denies killing Majesty and refuses to talk about the links Maytubby's turned up between Majesty, a strange-looking, mysterious preacher, and well-connected lawyer/politician Solomon Stoddard. Maytubby goes all the way to Cajun country to follow up a lead on the preacher who calls himself David Woodley but is really Basile Trepanier, a man whom Stoddard got acquitted in several nonviolent criminal matters. Then a wily man on a fast motorcycle starts picking off possible witnesses in the case. Though most of this rash of violence falls outside his jurisdiction, Maytubby is as stubborn and independent as Bond, and neither one is about to give up on the case the powers that be wish would just go away. A captivating look at a little-known corner of rural Oklahoma burning up in a drought, rife with drug problems, yet peopled by tenacious, idiosyncratic characters you can't help rooting for.

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September 1, 2017

Chickasaw Nation tribal policeman Bill Maytubby and county deputy Hannah Bond discover the decomposing body of a mysterious young woman on tribal land in this concise and satisfying debut procedural. Fans of witness interviews, detective banter, and the grind of police work will find much to enjoy, as even minor characters such as a liquor store owner and a hotel clerk are memorably fleshed out. Even more impressive are Lackey's evocative descriptions of a Southwestern summer as the investigation takes the two detectives throughout Oklahoma and briefly into Arkansas and Louisiana; he vividly renders the atmosphere of local cafes and the oppressive heat of a car on a long, scorching hot day. The breezy pace mostly works, although the conclusion is quite abrupt. Some of the protagonists' quirks, such as Maytubby's adherence to a healthy diet, appear a bit heavy-handed, but their repartee is lively and strong. VERDICT Fans of C.J. Box and Tony Hillerman will be delighted.--Julie Elliott, Indiana Univ. Lib., South Bend

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October 16, 2017
Lackey’s atmospheric if initially confusing first novel revolves around the members of several law enforcement agencies with overlapping jurisdictions in hot and arid present-day Oklahoma. Tribal police officer William Maytubby and County Deputy Hanna Bond, supported by the Highway Patrol and the FBI, join forces when they discover the ravaged body of Majesty Tate, a prostitute who has been stabbed with a distinctive antler-handled Bowie knife. The knife sets Maytubby and Bond on the trail of Austin Love, an ex-con with drug and battery convictions. Most of the action takes place along the gummy asphalt highways, rutted country roads, and dusty tracks of Oklahoma, with a brief side trip to Louisiana’s Cajun country. As details of Majesty’s life come to light, the tone becomes murkier and more complex, involving other murders, blackmail, kidnapping, and deceit. This police procedural has much to recommend it—intriguing characters, vivid landscape descriptions, and some witty dialogue between Maytubby and his fiancée—but Lackey could have taken a lesson from Tony Hillerman in how to clearly delineate who and where the characters are. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates.

August 1, 2017
Past governors of Oklahoma's Chickasaw Nation might be startled to find their family nameMaytubbyhanded to the policeman hero of this unusual novel. Bill Maytubby is on the trail of a nasty man who may have murdered a young woman, who may have been just passing through. His inquiries take him into bars and trailer parks and even a church service, but the plot is not author Lackey's main interest here. He wants us to love Maytubby and has loaded him with enough quirks to puzzle his namesakes. He lives on health foodlike oatmeal and prunesand when he's pursuing someone, he puts on a headband, takes off his shoes, and runs barefoot through the woods. Lackey likes to spring startling metaphors: a man's face is hard like painted tin. Sometimes they clunk: He's the shape of water. Can you picture that? The mystery isn't solvedor even explaineduntil the last few pages, but readers caught up in the jaunty writing won't care. Did you know a dirt bike blats and frogs say jug-a-rum ?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)