Sunny Frazier always delights, and A Snitch in Time is no exception. She writes the Christy Bristol series in a way that feels lighthearted even in its darkest moments. When Bristol goes on vacation to visit her friend, Lennie, she never expects to get drafted into working for a different department doing her job. Bristol is intrigued enough by the crime at hand that her protestations seem half-hearted at times though her annoyance is very real. When she and Lennie get into a fight, she's left with nothing but the work the department expects her to do. Frazier drops the reader in the Sierra Nevada Foothills creating a sense of isolation that makes the reader cheer for Bristol to stand up to her superiors and get out of there while simultaneously wanting to her to solve the crime. When a witness contacts Bristol via phone she doesn't take her seriously at first only to discover she might have vital information. With suspicion cast in multiple directions, Bristol isn't sur...
Holler is first and foremost a story of family. It's about the kind of family that you find in the hollers of Kentucky. People who grow up with a kind of kinship that binds them against outsiders even when it's not necessarily in their best interests. Holler is a multi-layered story that feels simple in the read but hits on myriad and complex emotions throughout. In this short story, Wilkinson deftly immerses the reader in interactions that point out preconceptions about country people, city people, skin color, police officers, and even individuals leading to deeper understanding about how much misunderstanding, hurt, and violence could be avoided with a bit more communication and fewer assumptions.
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