It’s the spring of 1913, and love is in bloom for Alice Tucker. Alice's new beau, Walter Kelley, is handsome, popular, and wealthy. Everyone in Boynton, Oklahoma, likes him. Everyone but Alice's mother, Alafair. She sees that Walter has a weakness for the ladies--and they for him. Moreover, Walter's late wife Louise had been stabbed in the heart and her body disposed of in Cane Creek only a few months earlier. The murderer has not been caught.

The sheriff has cleared Walter of the deed--he has an alibi. But Alafair is not so sure that he wasn't involved in some way. Something literally doesn't smell right. Could it be Louise's tormented spirit signaling clues from the other side, or is Alafair scenting a more direct link to the crime?

Even if he had nothing to do with his wife's death, Alafair judges Walter to have been a bad husband and, with the help of her feisty mother-in-law, Sally McBride, Alafair sets out to prove to the headstrong Alice that Walter is not the paragon she thinks he is. You can bet that Alice has something to say back.

As she searches for the truth behind the death of Louise Kelley, Alafair uncovers such a tangle of lies, misdirection, and deceit that she begins to think that the whole town has been downright hornswoggled!

Reviews

"Ms Casey, you have Hornswoggled this reader with your wonderful book. I reviewed your last one, The Old Buzzard Had it Coming and I love this next story. You have outdone yourself in portraying the events, the lifestyle and the genuine people that comprise this growing America. I wanted to read ahead and find out who-done-it, but couldn't bring myself to not read all the way through. You show a masterful talent with words, creating an atmosphere for the murder that is somber and intriguing, but also very positive in showing how a person with a heart should always try to look at the things surrounding them.

As in your previous book, The Old Buzzard, you show the old western farm in the change-over from the horse and buggy days to the new-fangled automobile, in an up and coming Oklahoma country where those farms stretched for miles and many people only knew their neighbors slightly. The towns that grew up around those outposts were invovled in the growing of this country and the people becoming more socially oriented towards each other, playing a part in the relationships shown. You had to have listened attentively to a grandmother or other older family member relating tales of that time (which you have also clearly researched extensively) to make the reader feel totally at home in the middle of it. I even started thinking and speaking in the Oklahoman dialects that I remember so well from my past relatives. To make a murder that took place in a community so remote from today's hustle and bustle, amidst that of the simple life of nearly a 100 years ago, real is a remarkable achievement, seeing as how most people only relate to present time circumstances with any fluidity. I completely and honestly recommend Hornswoggled as a book the reader will feel completely at home in reading, in part because there is so much in it that is inside all of us and makes us the people we are today.

Hornswoggled starts with the simple finding of a body in Cane Creek, then leads the reader on a long chase amongst many not so suspicious characters to find out who murdered the woman. Meanwhile Alafair is also busy trying to stop Alice, her daughter, from marrying the man of her choice, whom Alafair thinks (and rightly so, or so it seems) is so wrong for her daughter and will bring her nothing but pain and heartache. Along the way, it turns out that a number of people were involved in the disappearance, transporting, and murder of the victim, Miz Kelley - Walter, her newly widowed husband, who is also the town barber and Alice's suitor; various neighbors; the nefarious villains Billy Boyd and Jeff Stubblefield (who the local Sheriff and law enforcement think are the guilty parties); Miz Kelley's sister and her husband, Nellie & Ned Tolland; and the new Minister and his wife. This is truly masterful storytelling. The roles they all play and the intertwining of the lives, I will leave to you to find, so that you may enjoy the true essence of this masterful mystery.

As I said in my previous review, Ms. Casey is able to weave a story out of the old family trunk and make it something that everyone will enjoy. She has a very fine way with words and getting the thoughts on paper very skillfully. I thoroughly enjoyed this great little mystery that does not have the main characters all caught up in the thrill or the challenge of over-active heroism. It is a very real, down to earth, wrenching to the core story about a way of life that is no more. Ms. Casey, I am a fan and will look forward to your next book. Please keep up the realistic approach to your stories, and thank you for the ride."--MyShelf.com

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"Set in the prairie town of Boynton, Okla., in the spring of 1913, Casey's nostalgic, folksy second novel to feature Alafair Tucker (after 2005'sThe Old Buzzard Had It Coming ) finds the full-time mother of 11 and part-time sleuth worried about one of her grown daughters, Alice. Alice is sweet on barber Walter Kelley, an attractive widower whom the determined and discerning Alafair mistrusts; Walter is just too popular with the ladies. Since Alice is set on having Walter, Alafair seeks distraction by investigating the unsolved murder of Louise Kelley, Walter's late wife, whose stabbed body surfaced in a creek bordering the Tucker farm eight months earlier. Dialogue rich with Midwestern speech patterns and a consistent, unobtrusive narrative voice lift this smalltown historical, which should particularly appeal to Margaret Maron fans. An appendix of down-home recipes is a bonus.(Sept.)" --Publishers Weekly

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"Casey's first book, "The Old Buzzard Had It Coming," was such a pleasurable debut that I looked forward to the next effort. Happily, it comes close to living up to its predecessor.

We are back in rural Oklahoma in 1913, in the family of Alafair Tucker.

Alafair's daughter Alice has taken a shine to the town barber, who has a comfortable life and is generally well-liked. But Alafair has serious reservations, noting that Walter Kelley is a little too fond of women. What's more, the body of Walter's wife, with whom he did not get along, is found on Tucker property.

Worried about Alice, Alafair and her mother-in-law try to figure out what happened to the late Louise Kelley. Alafair also walks a fine line that will be familiar to parents everywhere: how to disapprove without pushing a rebellious child into a rash move.

The family interactions and the description of routine activities are the best thing going in this book. The solution turns out to be extremely convoluted, and, perhaps, a bit hard to swallow.

Still, it won't keep me from looking forward to Casey's next book."--Contra Costa Times