Sue Williams Books In Order

Publication Order of Cass Tuplin Books

Sue William

Sue Williams is a fiction mystery author best known for her series, the Rusty Bore Mysteries.

Murder with the Lot

Murder with the Lot is the first book in the Rusty Bore Mysteries. The book’s main character is Cass Tuplin, a self-appointed PI who cannot keep her nose out of other people’s business. It is not like she has much to do anyway, given the fact that she lives in Bore, a rusty town with few residents and little if any action. Cass is the owner of Rusty Bore Take Away, and she is also a mother of two. Despite being widowed for close to two years, Cass still believes that she is at the prime of her life. Her standards for the man she wants for her life are set quite high, and she believes that she deserves the best.
Thanks to her curious nature, Cass takes notice when a skinny young man named Clarence passes by the Take Away for a burger. Clarence has with him a briefcase and an injured arm. As the two get talking, the young Clarence confides in Cass and tells her that he thinks that someone is tailing him. Clarence also mentions about a best-seller he has authored and offers a large sum to rent Cass’s friend shack by Lake Perry.

A day after their first encounter, Cass directs an expensive-looking woman and a young girl to the shack. These two are family to Clarence. Cass gets suspicious about the visitor, and she decides to return the rental and kick Clarence out. What she discovers at the shore of the lake is the body of the woman she directed to the shack. The woman’s body has a single gunshot wound on the head. Cass rings Dean Tulip, her eldest son, to report the murder. At first, Dean is skeptical, and he takes some time to get to the murder scene. By the time he shows up, the body is nowhere to be found resulting in Dean to think that his mother has dementia. The murder sets the stage for a tale full of accidental shootings, blackmail, and other mysteries.

The Murder with the Lot story is told from Cass’s point; therefore the reader can see and experience everything as Cass does. Dean knows his mother all too well, and it is clear that he does not think much about her opinion on matters crime. When Dean decides that his mother’s concerns about the new man in town are not to be taken seriously, Cass decides to investigate on her own.

The novel features some fascinating characters. There is Cass with wild imaginations that make her jump into conclusions, and embarrass her family on several occasions. There is Dean, the successful son working in law enforcement but will not investigate something the mother is concerned about. You will also meet Brad, the less-successful son who won’t hold a job but is quite passionate about the environment and their few friends in this sleepy town. The pace throughout the book is fast, and tale is full of humor, making it an enjoyable read for those who like a hint of humor in a mystery book.

Dead Men Do Not Order Flake

Dead Men Do Not Order Flake is the second book in the Rusty Bore Mystery series. It is set 16 months after the events in the previous book in the series, and while it’s a continuation the book can be read as a standalone since it contains enough recaps from the first book, so it is easy for readers to pick the storyline up from where it stopped.

After his mission in Congo, Leo Stone stops by Cass’s Take Away for some flakes and chips. No, Leo is not offering any details on why he went MIA on Cass, and she is a little disappointed given all the effort she made during his memorial service. Leo, Cass’s teenage heart-throb, is returning from the dead. She had a tombstone laid in his honor, and for 20 years, Cass has believed that her childhood love was dead.

On the same night that Leo returns from the dead, Gary Kellett’s daughter is killed in a car crash, but the father is convinced that her death was not an accident. He suspects that his daughter was murdered for asking too many questions in her line of duty as a journalist. Gary calls requesting Cass to investigate the death of his daughter, and Cass is also happy to help. Dean tries to warn his mother to stay off this case. According to him, Gary was just delusional, which was understandable since he was grieving his daughter.

Despite her son’s misgivings, Cass sets to work, and her findings prove that Gary’s suspicions could be founded. The police seem to have been in a rush to conclude that Natalie’s crash was a result of poor driving. However, the evidence that Cass gathers tells a different story. While Cass has her plate already full, she is also concerned about Leo’s disappearance and his return to her life. She is curious to find out what Leo has been up to for all those years and why he did not want to share details about his disappearance. Read about lost loves, mysterious car accidents, and unexplainable happenings in an area that seems rather sleepy from the outside.

The characters in the Dead Men do not Order Flake book are all flamed, making them more relatable. It helps that the story is beautifully written, so it is easy to connect all the dots from the beginning to the end. If you like reading mystery novels featuring amateur sleuths and dead bodies, you’ll love Sue William’s Rusty Bore Mysteries.