The Sky Took Him

By Donis Casey

Nominated for the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award and 2010 Willa Award for Best Historical Fiction.

A sad duty brings Alafair Tucker to Enid, Oklahoma, in the fall of 1915. Her sister Ruth Ann's husband, Lester, is not long for this world, and the family is gathering to send him to his reward. Alafair's eldest daughter Martha has come along to care for toddler Grace, freeing Alafair to comfort the soon-to-bebereaved.

But where is Kenneth, her niece's irresponsible husband? When it comes to light that Kenneth has been involved in some shady dealing with Buck Collins, the most ruthless businessman in town, everyone is convinced that Collins has done him in. In fact, no other possibility is considered. But Alafair suspects that things are not so simple, and with help from Martha, Grace, and her sister's cat, she sets about to discover the truth about Kenneth's fate. Over the next few days, Alafair and Martha come face-to-face with blackmail, intimidation, murder, and family secrets that stretch back over twenty years. And in the process, they discover things about each other that will change their relationship forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Jan 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615950188

Donis Casey

Donis Casey is an award-winning author whose first novel The Old Buzzard Had It Coming was named an Oklahoma Centennial Book in 2008. She has twice won the Arizona Book Award and has been a finalist for the Willa Award. A former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur, she currently resides in Tempe, Arizona.

Reviews for The Sky Took Him

[bookswoman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This series just keeps getting better and better. As Alafair and Shaw's children are growing, life is changing drastically for them. Two daughters are married, one grandchild has arrived and a third daughter is engaged.

In the midst of all this Alafair, along with oldest child Martha and youngest Grace, travel to Enid, Oklahoma to visit with Alafair's sister Ruth Ann and to help her while she is dealing with the coming death of her husband Lester. Ruth Ann's daughter, Olivia, and grandson Ron are also in and out of the house but Olivia's husband Kenneth is mysteriously absent.

The settings for these books is a time period not covered by a lot of fiction, it is 1915, Oklahoma has only been a state for a few years and as the new century develops life and lifestyles are rapidly changing. Alafair's children are getting jobs and education that was often absent from farming family lives when she was young. Her older daughters also have jobs outside the home which was almost unheard of in the last century.

There is some great history here, the speeches of Eugene Debbs, the books of Mark Twain, and the lives of those who worked the dangerous oil fields. All are woven almost seamlessly into the narrative of the story.

I can't wait to read the next in the series.

[cathyskye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First Line: The train out of Muskogee was very nearly empty.Alafair Tucker is going to Enid, Oklahoma, accompanied by her oldest and youngest daughters, Martha and Grace. Lester, the husband of Alafair's sister, Ruth Ann, is dying, and the family is gathering. When they arrive, Alafair learns that her niece Olivia's husband Kenneth has chosen a very inconvenient-- and thoughtless-- time to go on an extended business trip. When he doesn't return on the scheduled date, Alafair has a hunch that all is not well.The hunch is proved correct: Kenneth is found dead. Everyone is convinced that the most ruthless businessman in Enid-- Buck Collins-- is responsible. So convinced in fact that the investigation begins and ends with him. But Alafair doubts that things could be as simple as that.Once again, Donis Casey takes us back to Oklahoma in the 1910s, and with a family like the Tuckers, I always savor my visits. (Probably because the Tuckers remind me so much of stories I've heard of my own grandparents and great-grandparents.) Casey gives the reader a true feeling-- without going overboard-- of what life was like during that era. Although I loved the glimpses into a company dealing with early refrigeration units, Enid's Cherokee Strip celebration, and the work involved in drilling for oil, it's her characters, their behavior and their relationships from which I derive the most enjoyment in this series.The Sky Took Him is no exception. We get to know Martha's beau, Streeter McCoy, but the stars among the new characters are Lu, a tiny Chinese lady, an oil man named Pee Wee Nickolls and his dog, Muddy. They stole every scene in which they appeared.As each of Alafair's ten children grows to adulthood, Alafair has to get used to seeing them as grown-ups with adult feelings and reactions. I found this process with her oldest daughter, Martha, to be the most touching one so far. One scene toward the end of the book illustrates one of the strengths I find most compelling in Donis Casey's books. Martha has just been in a room with three generations of women in her family. After going upstairs, she happens to look in a mirror to check her hair: The same face she had just seen on the women downstairs was staring back at her. "It's like we're all the same woman," she said aloud. Suddenly, she was struck with the idea that she was standing at the very end of a long, unbroken line of women that went all the way back to Eve, all with one great soul, moving forward through time.Yes, these books are excellent, with their tried-and-true recipes of the era, their depiction of a forgotten time, and their absorbing mysteries that Alafair insists on solving. But they're also for all of us who've ever looked into a mirror and seen a resemblance to a long line of men and women going all the way back to the dawn of time. We've asked the same questions for millenia: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and I love how Alafair Tucker answers them.

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Donis Casey takes us back nearly 100 years to an era before The Great War, to a time and place without computers and cell phones, where even hot and cold running water is not available for everyone. In this tale, Alafair and two of her daughters travel to Enid, Oklahoma to be with her sister to offer emotional support to her and her dying husband. But during the visit, an unexpected death occurs, and Alafair’s natural curiosity and moral fiber drives her to uncover the truth. Much of the appeal of this story lies in the author’s believable and likable characters as well as the setting. The mystery, while intriguing, almost takes a back seat to the unfolding tale about the people and their lives. This audio version was well rendered by Pam Ward and only adds to the charm of this southern tale.