Burt Collins is just one of
those difficult folks that Sheriff Dan Rhodes has to deal with on a daily
basis. Burt Collins has a very narrow view of the world and Rhodes has to
listen to him complain and demand action. His latest issue is that he doesn't
like the artists that have shown up all over Clearview, Texas. To hear Burt
Collins talk those artists, who are in town for a workshop being taught by a
couple of county residents, are an infestation that has to be removed before
they ruin everything. Burt Collins doesn't like the artists, the organizers
involved, and plenty of other things in Clearview or in Blacklin County, Texas.
Not that Rhodes is of a mind to do anything about the artists even if there was
a legal reason and there is not.
Burt Collins has been known
to say quite a lot of offensive things over the years and certainly hasn’t
mellowed with age. He has also been known to do a few things. While it may not
have been good enough for a court of law folks know he's behind some of the
petty vandalism and crimes that has gone on in the area. So, after a number of
paintings by the visiting artists are vandalized isn't surprising that Burt
Collins in the number one suspect for nearly everyone. He has that reputation after
all and was found at the scene of the crime minutes after the vandalism was
done.
It also isn't surprising
that Burt Collins is soon very much dead thanks to having his head bashed in.
It is also pretty clear that in all likelihood the murder weapon was a bust of
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Find the bust and Sheriff Dan Rhodes might just find the
killer.
It would go quicker if he
didn't have to deal with some runaway donkeys, a series of convenience store
robberies, a naked woman wandering around, and meth cookers with serious
firepower. To top it all off, Dan Rhodes can't even have a decent Dr. Pepper
thanks to their closing of the bottling facility in Dublin. That also means the
joy is gone from eating peanut butter crackers while sitting in his courthouse office
and thinking.
Scheduled to be released on
August 12th, Half In Love With Artful Death: A Dan Rhodes
Mystery is another very good read in a great series. All the usual
suspects readers love along with Rhodes are present in this latest tale set in
East Texas. A member of the “Texas Literary Hall of Fame,” this award winning
author keeps turning out quality reads year in and year out. He has done it
again with Half In Love With Artful Death: A Dan Rhodes Mystery and shows how
you can mix a little humor, some mystery, some action, and a whole bunch of
asking questions into yet another very good read. Highly recommended.
If you are new to the series
it would be best to start in the beginning with Too
Late To Die. While there is not really any character development in
this novel as they were set long ago, the interplay between some of the characters
goes back years and would be more appreciated by those who know the context of the
series.
Half In Love With Artful Death: A
Dan Rhodes Mystery
Bill Crider
A Thomas Dunne Book (Minotaur Books)
August 12, 2014
ISBN #978-1-250-03967-5
Hardback (also available in e-book form)
272 Pages
$24.99
ARC was provided by the
author in exchange for an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014
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3 comments:
Very good book and glad to say so.
Thanks for the review. It's not really my genre, but I'll pass it on to my "better half" who is into this! :)
Hope she likes it. I do.
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