Where the Hurt Is (An Emmett Hardy Crime Novel Book 1)

Emmett Hardy is the police chief of Burr Oklahoma, a lily white wide spot in the road in western Oklahoma who likes to quench his considerable thirst with bottles of "Old-Grandad" bourbon. One evening he gets a call from a wealthy landowner saying his prize pig Daffodil has been stolen. On the way to investigate this earth shaking event he spots the body of a young black girl lying beside the railroad tracks.So the story begins as Emmett begins his investigation despite the fact that the OSBI has determined that the girl must of fallen off the train or been pushed. There is really no great mystery here as the story unfolds but the author does a great job of filling in the backstory of the major players involved. The author writes a nice story that moves along smoothly that keeps the pages turning and provides the reader with a lot of laugh out loud moments that were really funny. How does the stolen pig and the murder relate to each other?....read the book to find out! I liked this book and look forward to following the series going forward.

Mr. Kelsey spins a good yarn or two while telling a story that keeps the reader engaged. Really liked the almost unexpected conclusion.I would have given 5 stars if it wasn't for all the typos and the very unrealistic and frequent mention of US 14 running north-south in Oklahoma. Which it definitely does not.

I loved this book! The writing and the story line were very well written and intriguing! I highly recommend it! On to the 2nd book in the series!!!!

The writing was humorous. I liked how the author weaved in the historical and made it seem so organic. Will probably read more in the Emmett Hardy series. The book needed a proofreader. So many errors it dropped my score from a 4.5 to a 4. Highly recommended

Read the first Emmett Hardy Mystery book and really enjoyed the down to earth small town story telling. Its an easy read if you have to stop and continue later. Ordered the 2nd, 3rd , 4th books which I will review when finished.

I’m not usually fond of mystery novels featuring kind of folksy lawmen in southern small towns. Especially with alcoholic protagonists.This book surprised me in its very effective dialogues (including inner monologues). They were excellent revealers of character and built a fictional world that seemed real and which will stay with me. Background info came unobtrusively and built that verisimilitude. Excellent story, well-developed plot—all that—but it’s the characters that held my interest. And if it sparks a series, I’ll be back. (I see it has and I’m well into book 2 already.)

OKLAHOMA requires a love/hate relationship. Its people are aware of this. Apparently, so is Chris Kelsey as his characters can still be found in every town in the state. Yet, murder is not a general action of Okies. Kelsey's story is brilliantly written. It could have happened just as wtitten. All in all, this is fast paced novel with a realistic twist at the end.

Good characters. I like the flawed main character, a small town cop in Oklahoma. There is a long unrequited love and long time petty enemy in town. A late night murder fills out the bill. This is a good read.

Wasn't what I thought I was buying. But it surprised me. Great setting. Great Era. Great strong characters and a great story line. I'm not American. But it was easy to empathise with the era in which this book was set. Big thank you to the Author.

I really enjoyed this mystery, part memoirs, part sleuthing. The repeating of old patterns from father to son.And the twist at the end was great.

Terrific story telling. Couldn't put it down. Brought to life mid west American small town in the 1960's -very well written

For the first half of the book I was serially tempted to stop reading it. It was like Lake Wobegon Days meets the Oklahoma dust bowl but without "all the men being good looking and the children above average". Unfortunately I think that Garrison Keillor has that market cornered.However that's were my moaning ends. The second half of the book morphed into a good "local cop against local millionaire" crime story;and it was very good.I don't know if Chris Kelsey can develop this into a series, but I would look forward to seeing the characters again.

I found it difficult to become interested in the plot due to the author's tedious and very distracting need to describe every character and location's apearance and history in minute detail as soon as they appeared. I very rarely give up on a book once started but was sorely tempted in this case as the plot is heavily buried in the author's rhetoric.