Older Than Goodbye

"Older Than Goodbye is like a Tar Heel three-pointer Smooth, sharp, and right on target " -Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire series, basis for the TV show Longmire.Judd Wheeler, police chief in tiny Prosperity, North Carolina, has never encountered a more dangerous criminal, or a more resourceful one, than he does in Older Than Goodbye, the new novel from Derringer and Thriller Award winning author Richard Helms Wheeler's job consisted mostly of handing out traffic tickets and quelling the occasional domestic disturbance. He never expected to get shot and lose half a year of his life in recovery. And, he never expected Sean "Shug" Burch to come back to town. Both happening within a few months makes for a bad year. Within days of returning to work, Wheeler has to cope with the disappearance of a banker and his Russian mail-order bride, the murder of the most hated man in town, and the return of a boyhood friend he helped send to prison thirty years earlier. "Shug" Burch has risen from convict to world-renowned country-blues singer, and has returned to Bliss County to open a music club and restaurant. Burch's long history of violence worries Chief Wheeler, who already has a plate full of trouble as he suspects that seemingly unrelated crimes in his community are linked by a single malevolent force he fears he cannot control or stop. The stakes mount as a Russian gangster plots to kill Chief Wheeler, who must turn to an unexpected ally for help "Older Than Goodbye starts off with a bang... and things get even better after that This book has excellent characters and atmosphere, along with plenty of action. Check it out "-Bill Crider, author of That Old Scoundrel Death, the latest title in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series.