Where the Hurt Is (An Emmett Hardy Crime Novel)
by Chris Kelsey
Rights Sold
Description
Awards & Endorsements
Author(s)

Chris Kelsey
Related Titles
| Publisher | Black Rose Writing |
| Publication | Jun 25, 2018 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 978-1684330713 |
| Pages | 317 |
| Age | 18 - 99 |
| Price | $15.95 |
Where the Hurt Is (An Emmett Hardy Crime Novel)
It is a Friday night in Burr, Oklahoma, and Chief of Police Emmett Hardy has big plans. A bowl of beef stroganoff, the Tonight Show, and enough bourbon to make both enjoyable.
Then his deputy shows up at the door, and everything goes sideways.
A young woman is found on the railroad tracks, naked and discarded like she never mattered. The state investigators arrive, take one look, and declare the case practically solved before it has even started. Emmett is not so sure.
But when nobody else is willing to dig, a tired, bourbon-soaked cop with no business being a hero decides to do it anyway. Because someone has to. As the investigation pulls him deeper into the town's rotting underbelly, what begins as a routine call unravels into something far uglier. Small-town politics, buried secrets, and the kind of cruelty that only thrives where nobody is watching.
In a town that has already decided who counts and who doesn't, one imperfect man refuses to let a girl no one was supposed to miss stay forgotten. He plays saxophone in a town that only wants country music, drinks bourbon like it owes him something, and carries a conscience heavier than his badge.
That conscience might just get him killed. Or fired. In Burr, Oklahoma, it is hard to say which would be worse. Will justice find its way into a place that has spent decades making sure it doesn't?
Reviews, Awards & Endorsements
Awards
2022 Indie Book Awards Finalist - Series (Fiction)
Praise
"This sensational small town crime thriller is a perfect beach read." -Best Thrillers
"It is a masterful and moving account of a murder and the racial injustice of the sixties where racist in power clung to any vestige of the privileges they felt were exclusively theirs." -Authors Reading
"Poignant and funny, studded with characters who haunt your imagination long after you've read the final page." -Anne Hillerman, New York Times bestselling author of Cave of Bones
"Where the Hurt Is showcases Kelsey's genuine flair for deftly crafted originality in terms of narrative driven storytelling." -Midwest Book Review
"Kelsey is smart, concise, and funny, and he makes Chief Emmett Hardy a lovable character you'll want to follow forever." -Julie Holland, author of the national bestseller Weekends at Bellevue
Author

Chris Kelsey
Chris Kelsey grew up in Oklahoma, the son of a jazz musician and a school librarian. He's played the saxophone since he was knee-high to an armadillo and made a name for himself playing, teaching, and writing about strange and obtuse forms of modern jazz. Chris currently lives in Dutchess County, NY, with his wife Lisa, son Jasper, and daughter Meret. Where the Hurt Is is his first novel.