Houston Chronicle: Novelist Joe Lansdale is the Stephen King of East Texas

 Houston Chronicle: Novelist Joe Lansdale is the Stephen King of East Texas

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Rusty Puppy -- Joe R. Lansdale

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Rusty Puppy -- Joe R. Lansdale: Hap and Leonard are back in another East Texas crime novel in which Joe Lansdale blends humor and grim events as skilfully as ever.  Hap and...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Shotgun Saturday Night: Bill Crider

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Shotgun Saturday Night: Bill Crider: Shotgun Saturday Night has a great opening line: Sheriff Dan Rhodes knew it was going to be a bad day when Bert Ramsey brought in the ar...

Review: "Between the Living and the Dead: A Dan Rhodes Mystery" by Bill Crider

Clearview, Texas, in Blacklin County has a little bit of everything. Feral hogs, a Wal-Mart, and, of course, the occasional murder or death by misadventure. It may even be the home of a haunted house if you listen to some folks. Not that Sheriff Dan Rhodes puts much stock in ghost stories, haunted houses, or anything paranormal.

He does put stock in reports of gunfire. Called out late one night to the supposedly haunted house over a report of flashing lights and gun shots, the Sheriff is relived to find no sign of Seepy Benton and his new enterprise known as Clearview Paranormal Investigations. With Officer Rudy Grady as his backup and a summer storm rolling in Sheriff Rhodes would like to believe somebody took the weather for a sign of something nefarious. Unfortunately, that is not what happened as they find the body of Neil Foshee.

The drug business exists everywhere and it certainly does in East Texas. Meth dealer Neil Foshee was well known in these parts for his criminal exploits as are his surviving cousins Earl and Louie. Nearly as bad as their departed cousin, Neil, Earl and Louie are not very bright and are not fine upstanding citizens. That makes them immediate suspects though Sheriff Rhodes, who has given up drinking Dr. Pepper, knows there are others.  A possible suspect is Neil’s former girlfriend, Vicki, who these days seems to have turned her life around and may have the romantic eye of her boss over at the local auto parts store. There are others in a case that has no easy answers and very few clues. Solving the crime isn’t easy and with Seepy Barton constantly going on about ghosts and claiming to be helping out things don’t get any easier. A runaway bull and a couple of other problems don’t help matters, but that is life in Blacklin County.

The latest in a long series is another solidly good read that includes Ivy, Hank, Lawton, Jennifer Loam and a host of other regulars. It takes Rhodes some time to assemble the mystery pieces in Between the Living and the Dead: A Dan Rhodes Mystery and that mystery journey sprinkled lightly with humor is once again what makes this series so much fun. Scheduled to be released August 11, 2015 from Minotaur Books, the read is another good one in a long line of good ones.

Between the Living and the Dead: A Dan Rhodes Mystery

Bill Crider

http://www.billcrider.com

A Thomas Dunne Book (Minotaur Books)

http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com

August 11, 2015

ISBN #978-1-250-0397-05

Hardback (also available in e-book form)

272 Pages

$25.99

ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

COMPOUND MURDER by Bill Crider (Gravetapping Blog)

COMPOUND MURDER by Bill Crider (Gravetapping Blog)

Review: "Shadow In The Pines" by PJ Nunn

Dani Jones left a broken marriage and more behind when she moved to Tyler, Texas. Her new home is a two story log cabin nestled in the woods of East Texas. Not only is she many miles away from the Austin neighborhood and her jerk of a husband, she is finally pursing her dreams starting with grad school at the University of Texas at Tyler.

She certainly hadn’t planned on getting involved in a missing person’s case. The plan had been to focus on school and her career long denied. Romance was the last thing on her mind as well. But, when you unwittingly purchase a home with a dark history, one can’t help but become involved. Especially when, after asking a few questions, things start happening that may or may not be the actions of someone trying to scare your off. Good thing your nearest neighbor happens to be not only a police officer, but a very good looking one at that.

What follows is a cozy style mystery that is heavy on the romance side of things. Dani has a growing relationship with the officer next door, Noah Russell, while also dealing with the rigors of being a grad student, and being the target of somebody bent on driving her away. Things slowly escalate as the weeks pass to the Christmas Holidays and snows come to Tyler.

Those who expect a more police procedural style read will be disappointed as this is primarily a romance with a mystery element. As such, not all the mystery related questions are answered and all the loose ends are not resolved. A comfortable and enjoyable read from Texas author PJ Nunn, Shadow In The Pines will appeal to readers who primarily like suspense and romance with a side helping of mystery all combined into a heavily atmospheric tale set in the piney woods of East Texas. 

Shadow In The Pines

PJ Nunn

http://www.pjnunn.com

Tidal Wave Publishing

August 2013

ASIN# B00DWL280O

E-Book (also available in paperback)

198 Pages

$2.99

Material was purchased back in October 2013 to read and review using funds in my Amazon Associate account.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

Short Story Review: "The Woodsman" by George Wier

Wolf Dillard had been having a great carnal dream involving himself and a local waitress until he was woken up by a very loud screech. A screech in the night that continued long  after he awoke and seemed to sort of

contain words in some sort of unintelligible language. Wolf made his way through his home to his screened in porch where he grabbed his shotgun from where it rested next to his freezer. By the time he got there the horrible loud noise had stopped. Karakawa County was silent and yet he knew that whatever it was out there it was in his backyard. It was big and coming for him and a shotgun may not mean much.

The Woodsman-A Short Story by George Wier is a moving and powerful East Texas tale that is not easy to explain or review. Reminiscent of his short story, The Eternal, this work also taps into elements beyond all of us that will live on far beyond the blink of humanity.

The story is also very good.

 The Woodsman-A Short Story

George Wier

http://www.billtravismysteries.com

Flagstone Books

January 2014

ASIN: B00F45F7WC

E-Book

22 Pages

$0.99

Word file was provided by the author for my use in an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Review: "Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery" by Bill Crider

It is the middle of October and still very hot and dry in Blacklin County, Texas. The weather has not been right for years and that isn’t all. Sheriff Dan Rhodes has already had a busy morning when the call comes in about the dead body over at the branch campus of a local community college. While he isn't sure if the one building on the outskirts of Clearview could be considered a campus Sheriff Rhodes is sure the body between the dumpsters is dead and the crime scene is ruined thanks to gawkers.

English Teacher Earl Wellington is dead. Probable cause of death is the obvious visual sign that part of his head is bashed in. Considering what looks to be blood and hair in the right place on one of the dumpsters, it appears that a sharp corner on one did it with some help by person or persons unknown. Wellington was a bachelor, but he was also an English teacher. As Dean King points out, “It's always the English teachers.”

Wellington wasn't liked by students or staff and seemed to relish heated confrontations. That means the suspect pool is large and extends beyond his current job assignment. Too bad Sherriff Rhodes doesn't have the fictional Sheriff Sarge Barton to help him. Sarge might help with Rhodes boycott of Dr. Pepper too now that they went and ruined it.

This latest in the series is number eighteen and is another good mystery with plenty of laugh out loud moments. With referenced comments to earlier books in the series Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery frequently reminds readers of good times and not so good times in earlier books. As expected Texas author Bill Crider brings back favorite characters such as Hack, Lawton, reporter Jennifer Loam, Rhode's loving wife Ivy, Math teacher Seepy Benton and many others in an highly entertaining read that also frequently references classic movies and books. If you are not aware of these cultural references thanks to your young age, you will discover additional hours of entertainment pleasure checking them out.

Along with a complicated main mystery there are plenty of interesting secondary storylines that generate numerous laugh out loud moments. The latest in the series, Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery keeps this fine series rolling along well and is very much worth your time.

Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery

Bill Crider

http://www.billcrider.com

Minotaur Books (A Thomas Dunne Book)

http://www.minotaurbooks.com

August 13, 2013

ISBN# 978-0312641658

Hardback (also available in e-book form)

272 Pages

$24.99

The author provided an ARC in exchange for an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2013

FFB Review: "Shotgun Saturday Night" by Bill Crider

Friday means Friday’s Forgotten Books hosted by Patti Abbott. Patti is currently celebrating five years of forgotten books and I am very honored to be a small part of her celebration. Check out the complete list here for lots of other book suggestions after you read the review below about the second book of a simply great series……

Paperback

"Sheriff Dan Rhodes knew it was going to be a bad day when Bert Ramsey brought in the arm and laid it on the desk." (Page 1)

It gets worse. Bert has another neatly wrapped and packaged arm and two more legs out is his truck. Bert was clearing brush out on the old Caster place and found these parts inside a corrugated cardboard box. He also found a couple more boxes out there that probably contain something. Bert opened one box and after seeing what was inside decided it wasn't a good idea to open anymore boxes or move them. Which means Sheriff Rhodes is going to have to go out there and see for himself the scene as well as open the boxes. Something he doesn't want to do either.

For Blacklin County, Texas this is something that might happen in the city but, not out here. Nobody is missing and as far as Sheriff Rhodes knows, the county doesn't have several people missing or enough missing folks to supply limbs to fill the first box. Those parts don't appear to be related to each other in any way. Rhodes figures that somebody came off the nearby interstate and dumped the boxes and then went back on their way through the East Texas countryside.

While how the parts came to be dumped in the field is soon easily solved, disposal of those parts becomes an issue. An issue that becomes an annoyance quickly and something that takes his attention away from a murder that soon happens and isn't easily solved.

Hardback

Second in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series this novel picks up just a little after the events depicted in Too Late to Die. Readers are again treated to life in Blacklin County in East Texas and the usually unflappable Sheriff Rhodes and the cast of characters in his life and county. Crime and even murder he can handle as well as the occasional violent altercation with suspects. Romance is another thing.

The growing romance between him and Ivy Daniel is the primary way for further deepening character development in this novel. The character of Sheriff Rhodes as well as numerous other characters was pretty much established in the first book. Rhodes is on his own these days as his daughter, Kathy, took the teaching job in Richardson. Her absence leaves him alone to navigate the tossing waters of romance and he is a having a hard go of it. Things have changed quite a lot since he was courting Claire and he has to learn how to do so again. As a widower he hasn't been trying to date anyone for a long time and the ritual seems as difficult as a foreign language. Having to search for a murder doesn't really assist in the dating process either.

Released in 1987, this enjoyable novel picks up seamlessly from Too Late to Die and entertains readers with quite a few twists along the way. At 185 pages in hardback form, it is also a fast read that is just plain good and features good old detective work with no fancy high tech gadgets or gratuitous nonsense.


 
Shotgun Saturday Night: A Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery
Bill Crider
http://www.billcrider.com/
Walker and Company
1987
ISBN# 0-8027-5684-0
Hardback
185 pages


My sincere thanks to the staff of the "Harris County Public Library" located in Houston, Texas who graciously provided my review copy through the interlibrary loan system.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2008, 2013

Review: "The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories" by Bill Crider

Long familiar to readers via the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series novels Texas author Bill Crider has assembled a short collection of previously published stories featuring the good sheriff Dan Rhodes.  The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories read just like the good novels in that the stories feature humor, mystery, and the extensive cast of  folks that populate the town of Clearview and the surrounding East Texas County of Blacklin.

The small collection opens with the story titled “Buster.” Miss Onie Calder is quite elderly and someone has killed one of her many cats. She blames an angry neighbor and wants him arrested for murder. Things aren’t that simple but the truth will come out.

Sheriff Rhodes knows things happen in the county that might be technically against the law.  But, Rhodes is not a hard-nosed law and order guy and is willing to look the other way on certain things as long as nothing happens.  In “Gored” Sheriff Rhodes has to break his long standing policy of ignoring the Blacklin County Stagg BBQ. The quiet annual event deep in the woods as a remote cabin usually has no problems and nothing much happens but this year the addition of a dead man means Rhodes has to investigate.  By the end of the story if you were not already hungry for barbecue and all the fixings Bill Crider helpfully includes a recipe for homemade Peach Ice Cream.

Ron Eller never did look like Jesus did in all the pictures Sheriff Rhodes saw as a kid in Sunday school classrooms. The fact that he did not look like Jesus at all didn’t stop somebody from killing him and wiring him to a cross. In “The Man on the Cross” Sheriff Rhodes has to figure who killed Ron Eller and why in a story that starts the Monday morning after Easter. The suspects are many in this complex tale of faith, profit, and deceit.

If you live in Blacklin County and you want real good food--meat and potatoes kind of food that will stick to your ribs-- you go to the “Round Up Restaurant.”  The sign outside the door makes it clear that they don’t serve chicken¸ fish or anything vegetarian. In “Chocolate Moose” authored by Bill and Judy Crider, Sheriff Dan Rhodes has to go to the restaurant to investigate a death. Pretty much everyone in the county hated Mack McAnally and for various good reasons.  Now he is dead in a very strange way in one of the dining rooms. It could be an accident or something more. A good story that finishes up with the killer caught and a recipe for the “World’s Best Chicken Fried Steak” and includes the recipe for gravy.  Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Environmental issues are often a theme in the series---especially in recent books. An environmental problem and controversy are present in the “Who Killed Cock Rogers?”  Shipping live cattle can often be a messy operation with unintended consequences and controversy. But, nobody expected a murder because of it.

So, get yourself some glass bottled Dr. Pepper (plastic bottles and cans just aren't the same), some peanut butter and cheese crackers, and kick back for a spell with the Blacklin County Files. Five good short stories featuring Sheriff Dan Rhodes, his wife Ivy, Deputy Rudy Grady, Jail Dispatcher Hack Jensen and numerous other good and no so good local residents.  Plenty of humor¸ twists and turns in the cases, and detail regarding the residents makes The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories  yet another fun comfortable cozy style read from award winning author Bill Crider. Solidly good, just like his novels, author Bill Crider provides yet more good reading.

The Blacklin County Files: 5 Sheriff Dan Rhodes Stories

Bill Crider

http://www.billcrider.com

2012

Kindle E-book

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2012

Review: "The Wild Hog Murders: A Dan Rhodes Mystery" by Bill Crider

Feral hogs have been running wild in Texas for years. As the problem has worsened and moved into urban areas, news reports started airing more and more frequently on the issue. If something gets reported on the news enough and there is any way possible to make a reality show on the subject, some network does. Two televisions shows on the Texas feral hog problem are in production now with no doubt more planned. Especially now since Texas has granted permission for hog hunts to be conducted from the air using helicopters. The feral hog issue is the backdrop in the latest Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery, “The Wild Hog Murders.”

 

As readers of this long running series well know, Blacklin County in East Texas certainly has its crime problem as well as environmental issues. Rampaging wild hogs are the latest threat to county residents. There are some in the county that want the hogs hunted down until the very last one is dead. There are others who save every critter possible and that includes the feral or wild hogs. That contingent would be led by the Chandlers, mother and son, who recently opened a wildlife rescue center that takes in everything. Apparently somebody decided to send a message to the Chandlers because the person keeps dumping what is left of their favorite pig at the shelter.

Understandably, the Chandlers are more than a little upset and they want the culprit or culprits found and severely punished. That investigation has to take a backseat to an ongoing murder investigation. Hunters and wild hogs messed up the foot pursuit of two convenience store robbery suspects who had crashed their car during the chase and fled into the nearby woods.  When the hogs and the hunters chasing them were gone, Rhodes discovered that one suspect had been killed and the other one was missing. Rhodes has tangled with feral hogs before and knows what they can do to kill. But, in this case, the hogs are innocent unless the hogs have figured out how to shoot guns.

With a murder on his hands and the local hog hunters refusing to talk, Sheriff Rhodes has a problem. A problem that is going to rapidly get worse thanks to a lot of differing agendas and a lack of cooperation from a number of folks. If that wasn’t bad enough, he also has to deal with the return of the notorious Rapper and Nellie and their signature motorcycles. Rhodes really does not like hogs, living or machine, and for very good reason.

The 18^th in this series written by legendary Texas Author Bill Crider is another confortable cozy style read set in the woods of East Texas. All the major and minor characters are back in their comfortable routines doing what it seems like they always have each and every day. No new ground is broken here nor is it expected in this well established series. The focus, as always, is on the current case, personal relationships, and daily life in this small Texas county.

The result is another very good read with fictional friends that are as real to readers as you and I. One knows Sheriff Rhodes always wins out in the end and will so again in this case. The only real question is how and who he will catch this time with his folksy ways.

The Wild Hog Murders: A Dan Rhodes Mystery

Bill Crider

http://www.billcrider.com

A Thomas Dunne Book (Minotaur Books)

http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com

2011

ISBN# 978-0-312-64149-8

Hardback

264 Pages

$24.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

Reviewing: "Nights of the Red Moon: A Mystery" by Milton T. Burton

Milton T. Burton’s third novel sets the stage for a series with a rock solid foundation, interesting characters, and a complex case. Sheriff Bo Handel has been the strong, and at times compassionate, arm of the law in Caddo County, Texas for nearly thirty years. Forty miles away from the Louisiana border and half that north of Nacogdoches, the county is fairly quiet though there have been strange events over the years. With a

drought and heat wave gripping the state and painting the Texas moon blood red, Sheriff Bo Handel knows the Cherokees were right to fear such times as periods of madness and death.

It was some time on an early September morning that Amanda Twiller, wife of the local Methodist preacher, was murdered and then dumped on the front lawn of the parsonage. Shot three times in the back, her body has been left like trash out on the lawn for one and all passing by to see. Including her husband, who found her just after dawn and called it in. While the fact she is dead is not a surprise, the actual manner of her death is a little bit. In the three short years that Reverend Bobby Joe Twiller and Amanda had been in town, she had made quite a name for herself as an adulteress, prescription drug addict, and a few other things before running off with Emmet Zorn, owner of a local liquor store. None of that explains why the FBI in the form of two agents is also present at the local crime scene.

Agents Muldoon and Hotchkiss of the FBI are interested because Emmet Zorn has links to organized crime down in Houston. Their agenda is to get evince against Emmet Zorn and leveraging him to talk about those higher up the food chain. What starts as a simple local murder case quickly puts a personal and professional strain on Sheriff Bo Handel. He doesn't care about the federal government, inter-agency cooperation, or why it all matters in the world. He just wants the actual killer brought to justice. Along the way, if he can, he will help others and try to stem the rising tide of collateral damage in his county where outside forces are turning the county into their personal turf war.

Author Milton T. Burton’s latest effort after The Rogues' Game and The Sweet and the Dead is a powerful, and at times, dark mystery set in East Texas. Sort of a weird cross between the style of Bill Crider and Joe Landsdale, this is a powerfully good noir style cozy. Borderline graphic at times, full of dark nuance and meaning, the book moves quickly through its 294 pages to a powerful resolution with no easy answers.

Along the way the complex character of Sheriff Bo Handel as well as numerous major and minor secondary characters comes alive for the reader. Plenty of East Texas history is woven into the tale in such a way that by the end of the book, the very county itself fully exists as a character in its own right and is lodged in your mind. Couple all that with plenty of action, mystery, suspense, a hint of romance, and the result is a breakout book for Texan Milton T. Burton. While you do have to wait for a sequel, there is this one and his two others if he is new to you. If he isn't new to you and you have not read it yet, what are you waiting for?


Nights of the Red Moon: A Mystery
Milton T. Burton
http://obscuredestinies.blogspot.com/
A Thomas Dunne Book (Minotaur Books)
http://www.minotaurbooks.com
December 2010
ISBN# 978-0-312-64800-8
Hardback (available on Kindle)
294 Pages
$24.99


Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2011

Reviewing: "Back On Murder: A Roland March Mystery" by J. Mark Bertrand

For some police officers the dead body is the end of the case. The search for the living is over and there is nothing left to do. For homicide detectives the body is the start. The dead body is the door opening on a case waiting to be solved. For Homicide Detective Ronald March, the results of a shootout in southwest Houston are his ticket back to fully functioning in Homicide and ending his exile of being farmed out on garbage details. 

 If he does not screw it up.

Since that fateful tragic day seven years ago, things have not been right personally or professionally. What happens over the next few weeks and months in the summer and fall of 2008 might be his last chance at everything.

A local loan shark by the name of Octavio Morales is dead as are several of his criminal associates. Detective March should not even be in the house surveying the carnage as he has fallen out of favor with his bosses. But, a house full of dead gang bangers brings out everyone and March couldn't stay away.  It has been far too long since he last worked a real murder case and he burns with the need to work one. He surveys the scene and only March spots the evidence that indicates that a hostage was there and now is gone.

Despite the fact that he alone found the evidence, March is still locked into the bottom of the pecking order and wasting his time with crummy assignments. Whether it is the frequent sting operations enticing bad guys to show up and claim the cars they won, the cop suicides he gets stuck with, or a number of others, the details are garbage jobs. March has earned his bottom feeder status and he isn't going anywhere.  At least, until he spotted the evidence that no one else noticed and changed the case from a routine killing to a missing hostage search. That earns him a temporary reprieve and minor league status in the Morales case.

Assuming he doesn't screw up.

But, he will. He does. And yet, March also makes his own kind of twisted luck. It may be tarnished luck but under all the slime there is luck and every now and then he comes through in a strange way.

This debut mystery by author J. Mark Bertrand features the usual stereotypical elements of a burned out detective, a nearly destroyed marriage thanks to personal tragedy, and a city that is little more than a cesspool with a population stirred up by a hysterical media tracking a missing person’s case. Usually these sorts of books are set in Los Angeles. Instead, the former Texas resident set it in Houston and also managed to weave in Hurricane Ike from a couple of years back along the way.

Somehow, despite beating the stereotype drum in nearly every area, J. Mark Bertrand makes it work. Before long, one gets pulled in the noirish style world of Ronald March where he frequently makes mistakes and yet survives against all the odds. Psychology is a huge part of this novel and March quickly becomes not only your friend but a guy you know that just seems to always have the deck stacked against him. He can’t play politics, goes his own way and does not fit in, and yet manages to always get the job done.

The author's MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston shows throughout the debut novel as one gets the feeling every character trait and plot point is orchestrated for effect in order to make a nice neat check mark on the master list. At the same time, when he is actively working and on the chase, occasional overwriting and stereotypical blemishes vanish as Mr. Bertrand brings the scenes alive so well you can almost taste it. It is when the action slows and March becomes contemplative about his life and what has happened that the novel drifts a bit. That also means occasional errors in grammar, pacing, the timeline of the novel, etc. are glaringly more present.

Just like in real life not everything in Back On Murder is tied up in a nice neat package. While most plot lines are tied off well, one minor storyline involving a tenant is cut off way too nice and neat. It comes to an abrupt dead stop and results in a missed opportunity for further character development and secondary plot.  Considering how hard the storyline had been pushed up until the abrupt ending, the reader is left to wonder why it just suddenly ended in that way.

Overall, the novel is good, but not as great as it could be. This may be a case where writers would be a bit harsher in their criticism of the book than the average reader as we recognize the tricks being used to tell the tale. Still, the read is full of mystery, political infighting, action, and no easy answers and results in a 382 book that will keep you guessing most of the way through. J. Mark Bertrand has a fairly decent foundation of a series to work from based on this book. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the next novel in the series, Pattern Of Wounds, scheduled to be published this July by Bethany House.

Back On Murder: A Roland March Mystery

J. Mark Bertrand

http://www.jmarkbertrand.com/

Bethany House (A Division of Baker Publishing Group)

http://www.bethanyhouse.com/ME2/Audiences/Default.asp

July 2010

ISBN# 978-0-7642-0637-5

Paperback

384 Pages

$14.99

Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano, Texas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2011