Hick Blackburn

The swamps and bayous around Cherokee Crossing, Arkansas have always been dark and mysterious, but on this summer day two boys stumble across the remains of a baby girl, headless and badly decomposed. Hick Blackburn, a reluctant sheriff with a troubled past is called to the scene. With nothing to go on except the baby's race and sex, the task of discovering who she is and how she died challenges all of Hick's investigative skills. But Hick faces a deeper challenge. The vision of the infant has left him shattered, a reminder of a war crime he has tried to lock away, a crime that has begun to eat away at the edges of his life, destroying him one relationship at a time. With the aid of his deputies, Hick will begin to piece together his investigation, an investigation that will lead him to question everything. As he is forced to examine the town he grew up in, he will come to terms with the notion that within each of us lays the propensity for both good and evil. His investigation will turn up lies and ignorance, scandal and deceit, and the lengths a mother will go in order to hide her shame.

When a school secretary is found murdered alongside a ditch outside of Cherokee Crossing, Arkansas, none of the usual scenarios seem to fit. Hick Blackburn, a sheriff more interested in finding justice than keeping peace, is compelled to construct the last months of her life to unearth what may have led to her death. With the citizens of Cherokee Crossing increasingly suspicious of the boys who found her body, Hick must battle the town's narrow-mindedness and quickly find those responsible. As the investigation unfolds, it is clear that everyone has something to hide, including Hick's own family and friends. As age-old lies come to light, Hick must face the truth that people aren't always what they seem. And to find the killer, he will learn that having secrets isn't a crime. But that some secrets can lead to murder.

When the corrupt sheriff of Broken Creek, Arkansas detains a young black boy on charges of accidental homicide, his sister asks Hick Blackburn, Sheriff of Cherokee Crossing, to investigate. Hick is reluctant at first. Not only is Broken Creek out of his jurisdiction, but Hick and Sheriff Brewster have a history, and Hick knows Brewster won't look kindly on his interference. But Hick quickly realizes the boy couldn't have committed the crime. With the aid of a New York attorney trying to make a name for herself and a shy new deputy who knows the boy's family, Hick uncovers a conspiracy that goes to the heart of local corruption, nepotism, and racism. But while Hick is working to free an innocent child in Broken Creek, his beloved Maggie, pregnant with their third child, faces challenges of her own back home. This time, will Hick's dedication to justice extract too high a price? The third book in Cynthia A. Graham's award-winning series, Between the Lies is as timely as today's headlines.

Hick Blackburn is falling apart. Last year, the world had been full of hope and promise after solving a murder and corruption case in nearby Broken Creek. Attorney Carol Quinn's uncle, the head of the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department, had offered both Hick and Carol jobs in DC. Hick had a wife, two boys, and a baby on the way. Now, everything is different. It's as if hope and promise no longer exist. And then Quinn shows up again. This time, it's with a new case to solve and when Hick finds out his friend Father Grant is in the hospital and his church has been torched, he can't say no. But this time, corruption is the least of his problems.