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Mark de Castrique

"The dark humor, a small community in a regional mystery, and a strong supporting cast of believable characters will appeal to Margaret Maron's readers." —Library Journal STARRED review

Towns like Gainesboro, North Carolina, may be small but go big on local traditions. When funeral director and part-time deputy sheriff Barry Clayton and his childhood nemesis, Archie Donovan, Jr., unite to create a fundraising float in Gainesboro's annual Apple Festival Parade, what could go wrong? With Archie involved—anything!

First, the Grand Marshal, NC Secretary of Agriculture Graham James, is attacked by a gunman and Barry's Uncle Wayne is critically wounded in the melee. The assailant is killed. Then, when the body of a convenience store owner is discovered less than an hour later with the gunman's food stamp card in his wallet, the case escalates. Two men dead. What is the connection?

Barry and Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins swiftly learn their small town offers no protection against big-time crime. The body count rises as the scope of their homicide investigation crosses into the realm of the U.S. Marshals and their secretive Witness Protection Program. To penetrate its walls, Barry and Tommy Lee resort to a most unlikely ally: Archie. Is the insurance agent, generally a victim of his own hare-brained schemes, capable of breaking the case, or will Archie find a way to become another of its casualties?

The trio's secret undertaking into a convoluted conspiracy becomes a fight for survival in a world filled with betrayals where it's impossible to know which people to trust.

Poisoned Pen Press

Buryin' Barry Series

Secret Undertaking

"The author offers insights into the political, economic, and cultural ramifications of Indian casinos, along with a large cast of believable characters with a wide emotional range." —Publishers Weekly

When Cherokee burial remains are unearthed on the site expanding a local cemetery, the dual occupations of Barry Clayton, part-time deputy and full-time undertaker, collide. Then, during the interment of the wife of one of Gainesboro, North Carolina's most prominent citizens, Cherokee activist Jimmy Panther leads a protest. Words and fists fly.

When Panther turns up executed on the grave of the deceased woman, Barry is forced to confront her family as the chief suspects. But the case lurches in a new direction with the arrival of Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkin's Army pal, Boston cop Kevin Malone. He's on the trail of a Boston hit man who arrived at the Cherokee reservation only days before the murder. Malone is convinced his quarry is the triggerman.

The accelerating investigation draws Barry onto the reservation where Panther's efforts to preserve Cherokee traditions threatened the development of a new casino, a casino bringing millions of dollars of construction plus huge yearly payouts to every member of the tribe. Leading an unlikely team—his childhood nemesis Archie Donovan and his elderly fellow undertaker Uncle Wayne—Barry goes undercover. But the stakes are higher than he realized in this risky undertaking. And the life of a Cherokee boy becomes the wager. Barry must play his cards very carefully...

William Dufris

Blackstone Publishing

Risky Undertaking

"[A] first-rate installment in an excellent series." —Booklist

Barry Clayton has left the Charlotte police force to manage his ailing father's funeral home in the peace and quiet of the Appalachian mountains. But Buryin' Barry is an undertaker with a problem he keeps finding unwanted business. Moving a grave on a snowy mountainside should be routine. No funeral, no procession, no grieving widow to console. Routine until Barry unearths an unexpected intruder, a skeleton lying atop the original occupant. A bullet hole in the skull piques his ex-cop curiosity; the photograph of his girlfriend Susan Miller in the murdered man's wallet makes the case very personal. Suddenly, Barry's life is turned upside down, as Susan becomes the prime suspect.

Joining forces with his pal Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins, Barry sets out to find the real killer. But a terrible secret had been buried in that mountain grave and one murder is only the down payment someone is willing to pay to keep it hidden. Barry is torn between discovering the solution to the crime and uncovering a part of Susan's past that could destroy their relationship. When the killer strikes again, Barry learns that even more is at stake. In a duel of deceit and misdirection, one thing becomes crystal clear. Barry's grave undertaking could very well lead to his own funeral.

Grave Undertaking

"[A] marvelous mystery you won't want to put down." —Publishers Weekly

Barry Clayton has a job he doesn't want. When his father became stricken with Alzheimer's, Barry left the Charlotte police force for the small mountain community of Gainesboro, North Carolina, where his family runs the local funeral home. "Buryin' Barry" reluctantly assumed the mantle of town undertaker, trying to fit his life into this somber profession.

Almost at once it turns deadly. At the graveside service for an elderly woman, a grieving grandson strides in clad like Clint Eastwood in a duster, rips out a shotgun, and murders his family. Then the shooter turns the weapon on Barry. "Take a message to my grandmother," Dallas Willard shouts. "Tell her they tried to take the land. Tell her I love her." The blast hits Barry in the shoulder.

Barry is not cut from the same black cloth as his father, and his irreverent wit and independence have already won him the friendship of the county sheriff, one-eyed war hero Tommy Lee Wadkins. Besides, Barry's a police pro. Trusting his wounds to the hands of local surgeon Susan Miller, Barry begins a search for both the killer and the reason for his crime. It isn't long before a second shooting occurs—but when Dallas Willard's body is discovered at the bottom of a quarry pond, it becomes clear that Gainesboro is caught in the grip of something more than a deadly family quarrel...

Dangerous Undertaking

"Another stellar entry in an outstanding series that deserves wider recognition: the family focus and rural North Carolina setting make it a natural for Margaret Maron fans." —Booklist STARRED review

The night before a funeral that will thrust the mountain town of Gainesboro, North Carolina, into the national spotlight, the body is stolen from the embalming room and funeral director Barry Clayton is knocked unconscious. Ouch. How will Clayton & Clayton deal with the relatives of Y'Grok Eban, the Montagnard hero who aided US troops during the Vietnam War, or the U.S. Senator, three-star general, and famous Hollywood star en route to Y'Grok's service? Barry's friend, Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins has a very personal interest in the missing Y'Grok—the Montagnard had saved his life. So does the Boston detective who also owes his life to Y'Grok and received a death-bed summons from the cancer-stricken old man: "Raven has come home." The three men pledge to crack Y'Grok's code, recover not just the body but a piece of a long-buried past, and deal with new death and betrayal. Is it a heroic or a foolish undertaking?

Foolish Undertaking

"De Castrique offers original plots, strikingly human characters, and a heartwarming portrait of American culture. His writing is to be savored." —Library Journal STARRED review

When Barry Clayton's father developed Alzheimers, Barry gave up his career in law enforcement to return to the North Carolina mountain town of Gainesboro and run the family funeral home. But even a small town in the Appalachians is not immune to crime. At a summer street dance, Barry's friend Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins is gunned down by an old man distraught at the death of his wife. To the dismay of Deputy Reece Hutchins, hospitalized Tommy Lee appoints Barry as the deputy in charge of the investigation. Who was the old man stalking? Why was a young woman who was wounded at the scene traveling with the intended victim? What at first appears to be a case of a mentally unstable summer tourist quickly develops into a tangled web of deceit stretching from western North Carolina to the Florida coast. Someone is preying upon senior citizens.... Barry realizes Deputy Hutchins is undercutting his investigation, but as potential witnesses and informants begin to die under mysterious circumstances, Barry confronts a conspiracy that runs so deep he no longer knows who to trust. One false step, one betrayal, will make this case Buryin' Barry's final undertaking.

Final Undertaking

"A tantalizing mystery full of humor and eccentric characters." —Booklist

Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton finds Archie Donovan's request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees' haunted house, with all proceeds going to the children's hospital.

But when the president of the Jaycees is found murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends to cover the bizarre crime. The case presents no motive and no suspects. Then someone fires a shot at Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket was even the intended target.

Barry's police work and personal life collide as his ex-wife Rachel comes to town hoping to use the case to launch a TV network career. Soon her prying creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Barry must follow a trail of clues to an unexpected destination: a mountainside of Christmas trees. Somewhere behind them lurks a killer. Unmasking him may be a fatal undertaking.

Buryin' Barry Series - The book series

Buryin' Barry Series - The book series

Buryin' Barry Series books in order

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