Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER MOST FOWL BY BILL CRIDER

 Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER MOST FOWL BY BILL CRIDER

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Murder Most Fowl: Bill Crider

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Murder Most Fowl: Bill Crider: Dan Rhodes is the sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas; he only has a small crew to work with, himself and his deputy and a couple of people in...

Sample Sunday: Excerpt from "Murder Most Fowl" by Bill Crider

I ran the below sample back in March and it seemed like today was a good day to run it again. As I said before, you just can't go wrong with a Bill Crider book. I have inserted the Amazon synopsis before the excerpt below.

"Following Booked for a Hanging, Anthony Award-winner Bill Crider brings back his amiable, computer-phobic sheriff Dan Rhodes to investigate a murder that may or may not be related to a recent wave of emu-rustling. For an officer of the law, Blacklin County, Texas, used to be pretty peaceful, but now, what with the emu-rustling, cockfights, and protests at the new Wal-Mart store — not to mention murder — Sheriff Dan Rhodes has his hands full. Hit hard by the collapse of his little hardware store, Elijah ("Lige") Ward has taken to chaining himself to the Wal-Mart doors and generally making a nuisance of himself. And when Lige's dead body turns up, floating down a river in a portable toilet, Rhodes finds he has quite a case to investigate. What was the connection between Lige and chickens? Lige and the Palm Club? And was he involved in the area's emu thefts? It seems that raising emus ("taste like steak, not chicken") is a booming business, so much so that emu ("calmer than ostriches and more resistant to disease") are being stolen left, right, and center by would-be emu ranchers with little respect for the law. From theft to murder, the local crime spree seems unstoppable. But with a little help from the computer foisted on him by aging deputies Hack and Lawton, plus some good old-fashioned detective work, Rhodes just may be able to straighten out his county."

Murder Most Fowl

by

Bill Crider

Chapter One

            Elijah Ward had chained himself to the exit door at Wal-Mart again.  It was the second time in the last couple of months.

            Ward was about sixty years old.  He was six feet, four inches tall, and despite his first name, he didn't look much like an Old Testament prophet except for the gleam of fanaticism in his dark eyes.  He had a red, leathery face and black hair with just a touch of gray in it.

            Besides about twenty feet of towing chain, he was wearing a pair of faded blue denim pants and a short-sleeved blue shirt that showed the bulging muscles in his upper arms.  His unruly hair was only partially covered by a Houston Astros cap.

            "You can get in, but you can't get out," Ward told the crowd that had gathered in the glassed-in entranceway.

            "That's right," a woman said.  It was Ward's wife, Rayjean, who was no more than five feet tall and as thin as a pick handle.  She had thin lips and a thin, foxy face.  Her thin brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun.  "You can get in, but you can't get out!"

            She was holding a sign tacked onto a piece of wood that might have been a fence picket at one time.  The sign had been printed by hand with a black marker.  Whoever had made it had taken the time to do it right:

WAL-MART

IS

UNFAIR TO

THE SMALLTOWN

MERCHANT!

            "They've ruined your downtown," Ward told the curious crowd.  "Look at all the empty buildings you've got, nothin' in 'em but pigeon nests.  Think of all your neighbors that went broke there, just tryin' to make an honest livin'."

            "You can get in," his wife said waving her sign toward the doors that opened into the store, "but you can't get out!"

            No one was trying to get in, however.  Everyone was too interested in seeing what would happen to the Wards.

            Even the store employees were interested.  Most of them had left their positions behind the cash registers and in the departments where they worked to come see what all the commotion was about.  They were all wearing their blue Wal-Mart vests, and they stood just inside the closed glass doors, looking out at the crowd and at the Wards.

            Elijah Ward rattled his chains.  "You can get in, but --"

            "--you can't get out!" Rayjean said.

            "You can get in, but --"

            "They can get out through the back door in the automotive department," Sheriff Dan Rhodes said, as the crowd made way for him.  "Or the manager will just let them out through the 'in' doors, the way he did the last time you tried this."

            "Maybe so," Ward said, unconcerned about Rhodes' intervention.  "But if they come through the front, they'll have to duck down under that little bar they've got across there to keep people from sneakin' out that way.  Got 'em a guard there, too, that they call a 'greeter.'  Guard is more like it.  They don't trust folks like I did, back when I had a store."

            "Things aren't like the way they were then," Rhodes said.

            "They sure aren't," Ward agreed.  "You might as well leave me alone, Sheriff.  I'm not leavin' this time.  I'm willin' to go to jail for my beliefs."

            "Me, too," Rayjean said, pumping her sign up and down.  "Take me to the pokey, Sheriff.  That's the only way you'll get me out of here."

            She was probably serious, Rhodes thought.  The last time this had happened, he had been able to talk the Wards into going home peacefully.  It looked as if this time might turn out to be different.

Bill Crider ©1994, 2014

Sample Sunday: Excerpt from "Murder Most Fowl" by Bill Crider

In recent months I have noticed that those authors who are really making e-books work are authors that have a backlist of multiple titles that can be released in electronic format. I think Bill Crider must have noticed the same thing as there has been a steady drumbeat of his older titles coming back out in e-book. In recent days he released several and Murder Most Fowl is one. You simply can’t go wrong with a Bill Crider book.

Murder Most Fowl

by

Bill Crider

Chapter One

            Elijah Ward had chained himself to the exit door at Wal-Mart again.  It was the second time in the last couple of months.

            Ward was about sixty years old.  He was six feet, four inches tall, and despite his first name, he didn't look much like an Old Testament prophet except for the gleam of fanaticism in his dark eyes.  He had a red, leathery face and black hair with just a touch of gray in it.

            Besides about twenty feet of towing chain, he was wearing a pair of faded blue denim pants and a short-sleeved blue shirt that showed the bulging muscles in his upper arms.  His unruly hair was only partially covered by a Houston Astros cap.

            "You can get in, but you can't get out," Ward told the crowd that had gathered in the glassed-in entranceway.

            "That's right," a woman said.  It was Ward's wife, Rayjean, who was no more than five feet tall and as thin as a pick handle.  She had thin lips and a thin, foxy face.  Her thin brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun.  "You can get in, but you can't get out!"

            She was holding a sign tacked onto a piece of wood that might have been a fence picket at one time.  The sign had been printed by hand with a black marker.  Whoever had made it had taken the time to do it right:

WAL-MART

IS

UNFAIR TO

THE SMALLTOWN

MERCHANT!

            "They've ruined your downtown," Ward told the curious crowd.  "Look at all the empty buildings you've got, nothin' in 'em but pigeon nests.  Think of all your neighbors that went broke there, just tryin' to make an honest livin'."

            "You can get in," his wife said waving her sign toward the doors that opened into the store, "but you can't get out!"

            No one was trying to get in, however.  Everyone was too interested in seeing what would happen to the Wards.

            Even the store employees were interested.  Most of them had left their positions behind the cash registers and in the departments where they worked to come see what all the commotion was about.  They were all wearing their blue Wal-Mart vests, and they stood just inside the closed glass doors, looking out at the crowd and at the Wards.

            Elijah Ward rattled his chains.  "You can get in, but --"

            "--you can't get out!" Rayjean said.

            "You can get in, but --"

            "They can get out through the back door in the automotive department," Sheriff Dan Rhodes said, as the crowd made way for him.  "Or the manager will just let them out through the 'in' doors, the way he did the last time you tried this."

            "Maybe so," Ward said, unconcerned about Rhodes' intervention.  "But if they come through the front, they'll have to duck down under that little bar they've got across there to keep people from sneakin' out that way.  Got 'em a guard there, too, that they call a 'greeter.'  Guard is more like it.  They don't trust folks like I did, back when I had a store."

            "Things aren't like the way they were then," Rhodes said.

            "They sure aren't," Ward agreed.  "You might as well leave me alone, Sheriff.  I'm not leavin' this time.  I'm willin' to go to jail for my beliefs."

            "Me, too," Rayjean said, pumping her sign up and down.  "Take me to the pokey, Sheriff.  That's the only way you'll get me out of here."

            She was probably serious, Rhodes thought.  The last time this had happened, he had been able to talk the Wards into going home peacefully.  It looked as if this time might turn out to be different.

Bill Crider ©1994, 2014

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Now Available as an E-Book!

Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: Now Available as an E-Book!: Amazon.com: Murder Most Fowl (Dan Rhodes Mysteries) eBook: Bill Crider: Kindle Store   Following Booked for a Hanging, Anthony Award-winner ...



You can't go wrong picking up a book written by Bill Crider. This is what I said about MURDER MOST FOWL back in 2008....



Progress has come to Blackstone County, Texas. Hack got his computer at the jail. The computer is nice and all that and though he feelsvindicated he isn't satisfied. They need televisions in the jail. And he wants cameras for the patrol cars. Considering how many times Sheriff Rhodes has had a physical alteration next to his county car, camerasmight be a good thing.

What isn't a good thing in the minds of many is that Wal-Mart has set up right outside Clearview. As has happened across the country in numerous small towns, the arrival of thebig chain has destroyed the small downtown area of Clearview. A once thriving downtown is now vacant and virtually empty of any pedestrian traffic. The arrival of the store has caused the closing of most of theMom and Pop stores as well as driving off some of the smaller chains.Elijah "Lige" Ward used to have a hardware store. These days he chains himself to the front doors of Wal-Mart in protest demanding the store to close.

Of course, Sheriff Rhodes has to go out and deal with that situation. Emus have also come to the county and as a result there are now thefts of Emus instead of cattle. While cattle rustling can be racked and dealt with, Emu theft is a bit trickier. The old standby, chickens, is still around and still being raised to fight by some on the county. You know with all this going on, there will be another murder and Rhodes will soon be working the case, chasing suspects, and dealing with a host of other issues in the county.

At least it is early June and election season is far off. He's going to lose a few votes by finding out all the dirt on his neighbors. Sheriff Dan Rhodes wouldn't have it any other way. Well, he would like not to get in some many brawls with suspects and he probably would like to be home for dinner on a more regular basis.

Released in 1994, this novel takes readers back to Blackstone County for another adventure in an idyllic setting.The recurring characters, except his daughter, Susan return. Ivy makes a couple of appearances to bounce ideas of as well as to provide dietary comedic life. Marrying Ivy has changed the sheriff in many ways, including his pantry. It also seems to have regulated her to a role less on stage which is too bad because she is interesting and a character worth having around.

Another solidly good outing that keeps the series going and provides an interesting case for the good sheriff. Cozies don't get much better then this and it is a good one.

Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2008