Chalk Line

Overview

The first riveting installment in the Ben Gallagher mysteries

Chief of Detectives Ben Gallagher thinks life will once again be rosy when his younger brother Andrew is released from prison. But, on the very day Andrew is set free, the brothers discover the body of a lifelong friend, and the murder launches Ben on a fast slide from his revered rule of law. He is soon ordered to stay away from the case, but the closer he gets, the surer he becomes that a family member is somehow implicated. Torn between loyalties, he embarks on a race that takes him thousands of miles and a couple of decades away, leading to a cold case in the north—and a killer no one would ever suspect.

Reviews

"At once a spellbinding mystery and a serious work of fiction—one that plumbs the meaning of family and explores the wavering line between justice and the law. A stunning debut from a writer who is going places." —Bruce DeSilva, Edgar Award-winning author of Rogue Island

"Absorbing . . . delivers a complicated, satisfying mystery tale. . . . Deftly avoids the easy, larger-than-life 'Texas' stereotypes that infect many detective novels set in the Lone Star State. . . . An engrossing, entertaining detective tale and a good down payment on future Ben Gallagher mysteries." —The Dallas Morning News (September 2, 2011)

"LaRocque has created a handful of appealing characters with detailed backstories to begin her series, and it's well worth getting in at the start." —Booklist (September 2011)

"Chalk Line is a fast, smart read, a meaty morality tale with complicated characters and shades of gray." —Denton Record-Chronicle (September 17, 2011)

"A completely different kind of mystery." —www.Star-Telegram.com

"Obviously well-written (LaRocque practices what she preaches)." —Glen Dromgoole, Abilene Reporter-News (June 24, 2012)

Author Biography

Paula LaRocque is the author of The Book on Writing, Championship Writing, and On Words. She has served as a writing consultant for the Associated Press and is a former columnist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Quill magazine. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Arlington, Texas.