Mile of Cars Murders

By: Joe Harwell

Narrated by: W.B. Ward

Car dealers in Norman, a Stillwater newspaper, storm chasers from OU, a bar outside Chickasha, and an automotive chop shop in Harrah are locations featured in Mile of Cars Murders, a new novel by Tulsa writer Joe Harwell that follows a four-year investigation into the disappearance of eight people in central Oklahoma. The Murrah Building bombing and the 1999 Moore tornado are the historical markers for even greater tragedy in the Britton family.

Mother and father, Pat and J.P. (Joe Paul, Sr.) leave home early on April 19th, 1995, relying on their capable teenage sons, Joe Paul, Jr., and Dale, to take care of the ranch outside Perkins, and their siblings, nine-year-old Thomas and 11-year-old Henry. After some rocky times, both personally and financially, Pat and J.P. are taking a much needed day together without the kids to do some shopping in Oklahoma City, with plans to return home by eight pm. As news of the Murrah Building bombing breaks, Joe Paul, Jr., isn't too worried about his parents, since their plans didn't include being in downtown Oklahoma City. When Thomas falls and breaks his arm after school, Dale calls an ambulance, but can't reach his parents, who don't carry a pager or cell phone.

Eight o'clock comes and goes and Pat and J.P. aren't home. When days turn into weeks, months, then years without a trace of them, the Britton boys and other families in central Oklahoma discover an awful truth. A lot of people didn't make it home after the Oklahoma City bombing, but not all of them went missing because of it. With no solid leads for two years, the authorities finally get a break in 1997, jump starting the investigation at a roller coaster pace, which comes to a startling conclusion as the deadly F5 tornado rips through Bridge Creek and Moore in 1999. Mile of Cars Murders is a follow-up to Harwell's 2012 novel, Payne County Weekly.

©2014 Joe Harwell (P)2014 Joe Harwell