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The Samuel Craddock Mysteries

The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes

Book 12 now available!

Strange goings-on in a small Texas town...

A family feud with a lethal twist...

A dangerously toxic investigation.

Praise for The Samuel Craddock Mysteries

“Readers new to the series will find themselves quickly at home in Jarrett Creek.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Shames wonderfully evokes small-town Texas life and Samuel is a slow-talking but certainly not slow-witted hero squarely in the Walt Longmire vein.”

—Library Journal

“Shames has created an endearing hero with an old-fashioned sense of honor…. An enjoyable, often disturbing, read.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Flawed, complex, decent, and captivating—spending time in this town with the Chief is a delight. And what a terrific story, too.”

—Author Catriona McPherson

“There may be no protagonist in our genre today as decently compelling as Samuel Craddock. And there may be no better chronicler of the character and complexity of small-town America than Terry Shames.”

—Author William Kent Krueger

“I love Samuel Craddock, I love this town, and I love this series of books.”

—Author Timothy Hallinan

The Jessie Madison Thrillers

Deep Dive

Book 2 now in paperback

Jessie Madison joins an FBI dive mission in the Mediterranean, where she encounters deadly threats and dangerous secrets.

About Terry

Terry is the author of the Samuel Craddock series, featuring Chief of Police Samuel Craddock and set in the fictitious Texas town of Jarrett Creek. Library Journal says “The Samuel Craddock series may be the best regional crime series around today.”

The first book, A Killing At Cotton Hill, won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for a Strand Critics Award and a Left Coast Crime Award for Best Mystery. Subsequent books have been short-listed for several awards, winning the RT Reviews critics award for The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake. The books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, RT Reviews, Library Journal, and Booklist. MysteryPeople dubbed Shames one of the top five Texas mystery authors in 2015 and 2017.

In 2024, Terry published the first in the new Jessie Madison thriller series, Perilous Waters. The second in the series, Deep Dive came out in July 2025.