Lay This Body Down (Gideon Stoltz mystery) by Charles Fergus

This was not an easy read. No book dealing with inhumanity, or inequality, or degrading treatment of another being would be easy to read. i had a hard time to keep going but I hoped and did receive brighter, better news as I read on and this was good for my mind, which was quite disheartened through most of the story. Gideon Stoltz is the Sheriff. He is not from the town, considered an outsider being of Pensylvvanian Dutch ancestry, supposedly a minus point in this community. The county is free frim slavery but is being used by many as a conduit for slaves to escape elsewhere. The black community in this town are close knit and free, but live in permanent fear and are thus resentful. Does not make for good neighbourliness. When an anti abolition supporter Potter is found murdered, Gideon starts investigations which also unearth a series of missing free black folk who seem to be kidnapped. That investigation runs alongside the investigation into Potters murder and ruffles many feathers in the community who do not want questions asked. It endangers Gideon's own life but he is determined to see justice down, whether to a white or black man. Very good reading encapsulated into a pocket sized version of black enslavement in America. Sent by Skyhorse Publications for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.