Chiefs

By: Stuart Woods

Narrated by: Mark Hammer

Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1919, Delano, Georgia, appoints its first chief of police. Honest and hardworking, the new chief is puzzled when young men start to disappear. But his investigation is ended by the fatal blast from a shotgun. Delano's second chief-of-police is no hero, yet he is also disturbed by what he sees in the missing-persons bulletins. In 1969, when Delano's third chief takes over, the unsolved disappearances still haunt the police files.

Author Stuart Woods' riveting novel spans three generations while also probing deep into Southern small-town attitudes and behavior. The residents of Delano, with their reluctance to disturb a familiar social order, provide the perfect backdrop for this tale of dark secrets and murder.

Over 40 years ago, Woods found a battered chief-of-police badge in his grandmother's house. It had belonged to his grandfather, who had been shot in the line of duty. The story of the lawman's death inspired Woods to write Chiefs, which won an Edgar Award and was made into a popular TV miniseries.

©1981 Stuart Woods (P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"A riveting story of the Deep South that mixes murder mystery with political intrigue." (Publishers Weekly)
"A fascinating, compelling tale." (The New York Times)
"The homey wisdom of [Hammer's] voice, coupled with Woods's engaging story, makes this audiobook memorable." (AudioFile)

Wow!

At the outset my expectations were low, I’d only downloaded the book to supplement my commute library. Boy did I underestimate this great novel. Truly a masterpiece - I’m now trying to get ahold of the 6-episode TV version.

Masterful management of multiple plot lines.

Great story!

Engaging and suspenseful. Good narration. If you enjoy a good story, you will enjoy this book.

Great atmosphere, great narrator

Big, sprawling, multi-generational crime story set in GA over a period of 60 yrs involving missing boys as a back story for the struggle for racial equality in the Deep South. Mark Hammer does an excellent job in creating a vivid atmosphere. Long but well worth the listen.

Good story

Enjoyable, aggravating and suspenseful story.
Nice tie-ins through several decades of lives & generations.
Highly recommend this series so far.

Great book-so well done

The story and the characters were great and loved thus book. I am going to continue with remaining books in this storyline.

AMAZING! A GREAT READ FOR ALL!!

As a black person born and raised in the north, with most of my adult life lived in California, moving to metro Atlanta about 15 years ago was quite a culture shock. Everything that I'd ever read about the south was still alive and kickin' in Georgia. I normally shy away from books about good ole boys, the Klan, and (the lack of) civil rights. But in "Chiefs", the south and the southern way of thinking is captured in a way that I have never come across in my life. Stuart Woods' descriptions of the people and the places puts the reader on Main Street. You feel as if you are an integral part of the community. And if you are African-American, you will find yourself getting pissed off, while looking furtively over your shoulder out of sense of survival because Woods makes you think that the Klan is right outside your "shack"!

It was hard for me as a black person to keep my mind on the story, to keep everything in the proper perspective - that was then and this is now. I kept losing my place because I would get my "black back" up, allowing my intellect and reason to recede in the background. I can't begin to report on how white people take such stories - are they ashamed or do they just believe this is the natural order of life. Who knows? I don't. But if everyone just puts their personal feelings - good or bad - on the shelf, this will be one of the most amazing rides that a reader can take. It is only made better by the amazing vocal talents of narrator Mark Hammer who can be both soothing and menacing but always with the "bless your heart" tone of the true south.

This is about crime and deception and sexual depravity - all of the same things that we experience everyday in 2008. Sit back, get a glass of good bourbon or iced tea (sweet, of course!), and take a trip back to the early 1900s. Nothing has changed in this country. I'm not referring to the state of race relations - I'm talking about good old crime storytelling.

A classic

I love this book. The characters are memorable and presented in depth. The mystery and suspense is maintained throughout and the ending superb. The author's style and substance is a mixture of Ken Follett and Harper Lee, and in many respects, the best of both. This is a classic and should not be missed.

A great story

This book was written in 1981 and won the Edgar Award. After listening to it I sure can see why it received the award and how it launched Woods career. I also under stand that in the 1980's CBS made it into a mini-series starring Charles Heston. The book is the first one in a series about Will Lee. The book opens up in 1919 Delano Georgia (near warm Springs --FDR died there) with the appointment of the first police chief of Delano, a farmer Will Henry Lee it covers his years as Chief and his accumulating evidence on two boys who were murdered and his suspicions of Foxy Furderburke as the murder. Lee was shot down in line of duty and the next Chief was Sonny Butts a returning WWI solder he added to the file on Foxy but he had problems, you need to read the story, I do not want to give away the story. Tucker Watts became the third Chief and the first black, he also is a Army veteran. His term was in the 1950-60 and time of Civil Rights in the South. Lots of action, suspense, politics, family interaction, history and life in a small town in the racial divided South. Woods took the time to build the characters and the background in the story as it is the beginning of a series. The Narrator Mark Hammer did a great job. His voice is familiar to me but I can not place it. I shall download the second book in the series, I hope it will be as good as this one.

loved it but maske sure you know...

This is a paced period piece. I enjoy the narrators slow pace as he affects the setting of a deep south Georgia. You can really just put the audiobook on autopilot as you drive, or walk or do chores and by the end...you are looking for more stuff to do....

Great story-- but the narrator drove me nuts!

It doesn't help that I just finished listening to Shantaram, narrated by Humphrey Bower-- who is the BEST narrator I've heard yet... so, when the narrator of Chiefs started with his slow, gravelly voice I was crestfallen. I like Stuart Woods, and have read many of his novels. The story was good-- poignant-- not really what got me on the edge of my seat. The narrator drove me nuts, because he was so slow! It was a "good" story, but it would have been great had the narrator had a little life in him.