The Homeplace: A Mystery

The Homeplace: A Mystery

Kevin Wolf

Minotaur Books (2016)

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tags: Literature & Fiction, United States, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Murder, Thrillers

Literature & Fictionttt United Statesttt Mystery; Thriller & Suspensettt Mysteryttt Thrillers & Suspensettt Crimettt Murderttt Thrillersttt

“Culled from the rarefied air of James Lee Burke, Greg Iles, and John Hart, Kevin Wolf has fashioned a painstakingly perfect tale of murder, angst, and the enduring power of the human spirit. If the late, great Pat Conroy had ever decided to write a mystery, this would be it.” —Jon Land

“Kevin Wolf’s debut novel,
The Homeplace,
succeeds in every way. He has crafted a gripping, fast-paced narrative with beautifully drawn characters in an authentic and interesting small-town Colorado setting. Not only is the mystery compelling, but so are the characters. Even if there were no murders to solve, you would still want to spend time with these fascinating people whose lives echo the sparse and gorgeous landscape they inhabit and whose pasts refuse to leave them to their futures.” —Christine Carbo, author of
The Wild Inside

Chase Ford was the first of four generations of Ford men to leave Comanche County, Colorado. For Chase, leaving saved the best and hid the worst. But now, he has come home. His friends are right there waiting for him. And so are his enemies.

Then the murder of a boy, a high school basketball star just like Chase, rocks the small town. When another death is discovered—one that also shares unsettling connections to him—law enforcement’s attention turns towards Chase, causing him to wonder just what he came home to.

A suspenseful, dramatic crime novel,
The Homeplace
captures the stark beauty of life on the Colorado plains.

**

Review

"
The Homeplace
is one of those rare books that transcends genre and challenges our sensibilities with its no-holds-barred treatment of whatever's left of small town Americana. Culled from the rarefied air of James Lee Burke, Greg Iles and John Hart, Kevin Wolf has fashioned a painstakingly perfect tale of murder, angst, and the enduring power of the human spirit. If the late, great Pat Conroy had ever decided to write a mystery, this would be it. An instant classic that is not to be missed." ―Jon Land,
USA Today
bestselling author of the Caitlin Strong series

“It has been said that story-telling has only two plots: Somebody takes a trip. Or a stranger comes to town. In Kevin Wolf’s terrific debut mystery
The Homeplace
, the author weaves the two plot strands into one seamless story that grabs readers on the first page and carries them right through to its memorable conclusion. Wolf writes smoothly and clearly and stays out of the way, letting his characters carry the story. The author’s knowledge of small-town law enforcement, Colorado, and outdoor fieldcraft shines. I expect and hope to see more from Mr. Wolf and these characters in the seasons ahead.” ―Joseph Heywood, author of the Woods Cop mysteries

“
The Homeplace
kept me reading well beyond my bedtime. Kevin Wolf has a natural ability at pacing, and he tells a story that moves along without a single wasted moment, weaving people you come to care about, and their personal stories, in a seamless narrative that builds tension chapter by chapter.” ―Robert Bausch, author of
Far as the Eye Can See

“Kevin Wolf’s debut novel,
The Homeplace
, succeeds in every way. He has crafted a gripping, fast-paced narrative with beautifully-drawn characters in an authentic and interesting small-town Colorado setting. Not only is the mystery compelling, but so are the characters. Even if there were no murders to solve, you would still want to spend time with these fascinating people whose lives echo the sparse and gorgeous landscape they inhabit and whose pasts refuse to leave them to their futures.” ―Christine Carbo, author of
The Wild Inside

"Kevin Wolf’s debut novel is a stunner, beautifully realized in language as pure and constant as the Colorado prairie winds.
The Homeplace
is populated with small town characters that have the ring of truth as they struggle with their intertwining histories and the restless hopes and dreams that lead them to violence and redemption. This is a mystery with great heart and a tender yet tough appreciation for the simple passions that both divide and unite us. Mr. Wolf is a first-rate storyteller." ―James Anderson, author of
The Never-Open Desert Diner

“In
The Homeplace
, Kevin Wolf creates a compelling cross between a modern-day Western and a murder mystery with a story that centers around Chase Ford, the damaged hero who returns to his home town to find it turned upside down by three murders.
The Homeplace
is not only a terrific mystery but also a wonderfully evocative examination of the difficulties of going home and the baggage that awaits us there.” ―Allen Eskens, author of
The Life We Bury

"A humdinger of a first novel that brings together several gripping storylines, an appealingly flawed hero, and an intimate sense of life in small-town America." ―
Kirkus Reviews

"Filled with brilliant well-placed descriptions of small town moodiness, politics, and gossip, Kevin Wolf has written a solid mystery which is abundant with unexpected twists in all the right places. The emotional intensity of the plot contrasts nicely with the sullen beauty of the open prairie." ―
Colorado Book Review

"Wolf manages to mix a trip down memory lane with a lovely, old-fashioned whodunit." ―
Booklist

"Similar to Hillerman’s, the prose here is clear-eyed and non-flashy. The characters are vivid. And the mystery is a grabber, with an everyman undertow." ―
The New York Journal of Books

"Winner of the 2015 Tony Hillerman Prize, this cross between a Western and a murder mystery will please Craig Johnson and C.J. Box aficionados." ―
Library Journal

"Reminiscent of the novels of James Lee Burke or John Hart....With nuanced characters and an appealingly flawed hero,
The Homeplace
is an intriguing look at what can happen when someone returns to the scene of their youth after too long away." ―ShelfAwareness

About the Author

Kevin Wolf is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Crested Butte Writers. The great-grandson of Colorado homesteaders, he enjoys fly-fishing, old Winchesters, and 1950s Western movies. He is the author of
The Homeplace
and lives in Littleton, Colorado, with his wife and two beagles. 

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Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

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Dad,

I wrote a book.

If you listen you’ll hear the wind.

It seems to always blow across Comanche County. A wind from the north rattles the eaves and brings icy cold down from Canada. From the south it pumps out heavy, humid air that stacks against the mountains and leaves its rain a hundred miles from the county’s fields.

If you listen you’ll hear it.

Some days the wind howls. Some days it whispers. Many think they hear it laugh at those fool enough to live out here. Some say the wind cries for those who do.

CHAPTER ONE

When Chase Ford was a boy, he couldn’t understand why he never heard the sounds of dawn. Why couldn’t he hear night tear away along the horizon and day take its place? Why didn’t the sky sizzle when the warmth of the sun touched what was left of the cool darkness?

His father, Big Paul, would have called him foolish for having such thoughts. Some part of Chase knew he was only a visitor on this wide-open, windswept splash of prairie. Chase was the first of four generations of Ford men to leave Comanche County. For Chase, leaving saved the best and hid the worst.

But Chase Ford had come home.

As the first spikes of orange painted the gray morning, Chase spotted a deer at the edge of the field. It was upwind. No chance it would scent him. Through the binoculars, Chase could tell it was a big deer. The broken tine on the buck’s wide antlers and its graying muzzle meant it was an old bachelor, most likely run off from the herd by the younger bucks to live out what years it had left on its own.

If Chase could be patient, the deer might drift into the stubble field where he would have a shot. His father’s rifle would reach that far. He’d seen Big Paul take game a quarter mile or more away too many times to count. But it had been almost sixteen years since he’d held his father’s gun. And that many years since Chase had been home.

Chase swung the glasses back, but the animal was gone. He searched the sagebrush at the edge of the field, but the old buck knew all the places to hide on the homeplace better than Chase. For now there was a thermos of coffee waiting in his truck, and for the first time in sixteen years, he had nothing else to do except wait for his next chance at the deer, and listen for those sounds of dawn.

*   *   *

Once, simple fun came from pushing his old truck for every mile per hour he could get. Back then, Chase had let rooster tails of dust chase him home from school, home from practice, and home from errands Big Paul had sent him to run in town. At every chance, he stayed off the asphalt and drove the back roads. It was an easy choice in a county that had forty miles of dirt for every mile of blacktop. In a place that moved so slowly, pushing that old battered truck had made the whole world turn faster.

Now he pushed a new truck to remember what it was like to be home.

A silver blaze of reflected sun stabbed the sky. Chase tapped the brakes. From the top of a roll in the road, Chase spotted a vehicle in the bar ditch ahead. He slowed the Dodge to forty, and from the next hillock he could see a light bar on the car’s roof and markings on the tailgate. It wasn’t a farmer out checking stock. This was a county sheriff’s four-by-four, and a man in a Stetson leaned against the fender.