Review: Gold in Them Texas Hills: An Al Quinn Novel by Russ Hall

We close out July with one of my all-time favorite authors. Readers of my reviews should already very much know that I have long been a fan of the Al Quinn series set in the Texas Hill Country. The latest, Gold in Them Texas Hills: An Al Quinn Novel by Russ Hall is another solidly good read.

 

As the read opens, Al Quinn and family are asleep. Things have been peaceful these last few months and that has been a very good thing. But, on this night, something has woken up Al and their dog Tanner. Tanner’s warning growl woke up Al’s wife, Fergie, and thoroughly disturbing the quiet in their home on a shore of Lake Travis.

 

A look out the bedroom window reveals somebody is in the woods with a flashlight just outside their home. Fergie and Al get dressed and get their guns to see what is going on outside.

 

They live there with his brother, Maury, his wife Bonnie, and their young baby, Little Al. Bonnie is a very good shot as she grew up hunting and shooting. They also were awakened by whatever is going on outside. While Maury has the baby, Bonnie is already out there with her gun. Based on the noise, she isn’t planning on taking prisoners.

 

As the action moves to the nearby boat dock, Al and Fergie arrive as a boat flees from the dock out into the lake. If Bonnie wanted the people dead, they would be. Instead, she fired warning shots to send the culprits fleeing. In their haste, as she shows Al and Fergie, they left a metal detector behind.

 

While the others think that maybe they were looking for gold, Al doubts it as Texas isn’t known for having gold. Not like, say California was back in the day. Besides, any gold in the lands of Texas would be way out west somewhere and not at Lake Travis. So, in Al’s mind, these folks were on their land for some other reason. What? He has no idea. Good thing he has connections with the local law enforcement.

 

Whatever it was they were hunting for, the people are persistent. They want their metal detector back. Apparently, they want more than that and aren’t going to stop. They escalate things repeatedly in Gold in Them Texas Hills: An AL Quinn Novel.

 

Long time readers know these characters like family they are after numerous books and short stories. The focus here is on action and the read absolutely delivers from start to finish.

 

Highly recommended as is the entire series.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4fnx5D9

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link Entire Series: https://amzn.to/4fpbRog

 

 

According to Amazon, I picked this up back in March 2025 at time of publication. I probably did that by way of funds in my Amazon Associate Account.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Review: All The Rage In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel by Russ Hall

All The Rage In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel by Russ Hall is the latest reading in the long running and very good series that started with To Hell And Gone In Texas. This one begins with Bonnie out in Al Quinn’s Truck with Little Al in his car seat in the back seat. Both are nearly killed when she tried to merge onto a local highway as a speeder decides to cut her off. She slides off onto the shoulder as the truck barrels by with the driver either shaking his fist or flipping her off.

 

She doesn’t know what he was thinking or doing acting like that. It takes several minutes for her to calm down. Eventually, when there is a long gap in traffic, she pulls out and resumes her trip home.

 

Unfortunately, the truck is sitting a half mile down the divided roadway. Knowing that such incidents have resulted in drivers being shot, she decides to pull back on the side of the road. She also pulls her gun out of her purse in case she needs it. Bonnie is a good shot and is ready if the other driver wants to escalate things farther.

 

He does as he starts back towards the truck firing shots. She answers back with her .38. As the man is undeterred and continues to advance on her, she gets into the glove box. Bonnie pulls out Al’s Glock and returns fire. She hits the guy in the left thigh. He spins, loses his gun, and hits the asphalt. With the shooter down and weaponless for a few minutes, she takes the chance to drive by at high speed, and flee the scene.

 

She calls for help and soon Al, his wife, Fergie, and his brother, Maury, meet her and assess the situation. In addition to damage to the truck, Bonnie’s sure the guy got the license plate of Al’s truck.

 

Bonnie was right because they soon find the wounded man at their house at Lake Travis. The man has his gun and, when nobody comes to answer the door, fires a shot through the door, wounding Al’s dog, Tanner. Justifiably engaged, it takes everything in Al not to solve the issue immediately. Instead, Al tackles him, cuffs him to a nearby faucet, and rushes his dog to a nearby vet as members of the Sheriffs Department arrive.

 

Tanner is soon patched up and the whole family is back together. It becomes clear that the whole family is the target of Ketchum and his group. Sprung by Biff Groton from the hospital where Ketchum was being treated for his injuries, Ketchum and the group goes on a crime spree seeking vengeance on Bonnie, Al, and the rest of the family. Good thing Al worked for the Sherriffs Department for a long time and has lots of friends.

 

They are going to need them in this fast paced read. Stopping Ketchum and his crew is going to take some doing in this enjoyable read. One that highlights the ongoing and steadily worsening road rage situation here in Texas where things are not getting better.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3VMyh9y

My reading copy was purchased in early February 2024 before publication day.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Review: A Turtle Roars In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel (Book 2) by Russ Hall

Detective Wayon Gallard has only been a detective for a month so the deceased woman hanging like a scarecrow at the Three Sisters Organic Farm might be a bigger case than he is ready to handle. Though he has been with the department for eleven years, Gallard has been a detective barely a month. Not even long enough to be comfortable wearing a suit on the job. If the case wasn’t complicated enough, somebody opened fire on the crime scene as Deputy Pudge, Gallard, and the two surviving sisters as they contemplated Gladys and the strange note that was pinned to her.

Considering everything that has happened, Sheriff Clayton thinks Detective Gallard is going to need some help and wants Al Quinn to assist and unofficially mentor Gallard. Al Quinn is sixty-two and far too young to be retired in Sheriff Clayton’s opinion. While he tells Quinn that all he wants is for him to show Gallard how to up his detective game, Quinn figures Clayton has something more in mind. The good sheriff frequently has an agenda within an agenda, but what that would be in this case, Quinn has not idea. Things at home are not at all relaxing and since he owes Clayton as they go back many years, he agrees to help for a few days.

Neither Quinn nor Gallard are thrilled to be forced together, but they form an uneasy alliance to work the case agreement. Good thing too as the dead woman isn’t the only murder case they have on their hands in the South Texas Countryside.

Second in the series that began with To Hell And Gone In Texas  is another good read. While billed as an Al Quinn Novel, the read is also about the other people in his life whether it be his brother Maury, his brother’s nurse, Bonnie, or other folks. Those relationships with Quinn, as well as the relationships between each other, are just as much as a part of the read as is the highly entertaining mystery. As was done in the first book, author Russ Hall has set up another complex mystery in the Texas Hill County and challenged readers to figure it out first.

While you could read A Turtle Roars In Texas first, it is recommended that you start at the beginning with To Hell And Gone In Texas. There is some character evolution at work here and less familial backstory in the read, so it is best to read in order. Both books are highly entertaining and mighty good reads. 

A Turtle Roars In Texas: An Al Quinn Novel (Book 2)

Russ Hall

http://www.russhall.com

Red Adept Publishing

http://redadeptpublishing.com/

December 2015

ASIN: B018MXJH5K

eBook (paperback available)

262 Pages

$5.99

According to Amazon, I picked this up back in October 2016. I am fairly certain I used funds in my Amazon Associate account to do so. I don’t think it was a free or reduced price read.

The third book in the series is titled Throw The Texas Dog A Bone and was published last August. I have a copy on my eBook TBR pile. 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2017

Review: "To Hell And Gone In Texas" by Russ Hall

Former Sheriff Detective Al Quinn is enjoying his retirement as well as his small home on the shores of a lake near Austin, Texas.  In some ways he misses his former job, but in others he is glad to be out as 25 years with the Travis County Sheriff’s Department was long enough even if he had a good boss.  His biggest annoyance these days at his isolated home is the drought.  If the unrelenting Texas sun keeps cooking the surrounding area forcing the lake level ever lower he will soon have to do some work to extend the boat dock.

The call from Sheriff Clayton of Travis County, his former boss, changes things. According to Clayton, Ali’s estranged brother, Maury, is in the hospital.  The homicide unit of Austin Police Department thinks it was a possible murder attempt. Sheriff Clayton does not know anymore more and that means Al is going to have to break the twenty year silence between them.

Al soon finds not only Maury in the hospital, but Detective Ferguson Jergens by his side. Al had known her back in High School, even taken her to the Prom, and a lot of years have passed. According to her, somebody gave Maury three tablets of Viagra, a drug he had no prescription for and should have never taken, and it almost killed him. He is still alive and is not out of the woods yet. Whether it happened at the assisted living center where Maury lives or by some other way has yet to be determined. Maury can’t talk.  It also has not been determined if, Maury, a ladies man possibly did it to himself or willingly took the pills offered by others.  According to Detective Jenkins everyone one is a possible suspect and that includes Al because he is the brother and their long history of conflict.

Al may hate his brother for good reason, but he certainly did not attempt to kill him. If he wanted his brother dead he would have done it years ago. He also may be retired and considered a suspect by the beautiful detective, but that is not going to stop him from going over to the assisted living center which is Maury’s home and start asking questions.  Before long a second attempt on Maury’s life is made, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are involved, and , and members of a notorious Mexican drug cartel are involved in a case that moves all over the Austin area as Maury, Al, and their friends battle to stay alive.

Well known for Bones In the Rain (Blue-Eyed Indian Mystery Series) and quite a few other books, award winning author Russ Hall has a really good book on his hands with To Hell And Gone In Texas. A complex action oriented mystery full of interesting characters, numerous suspects and plenty of clues, as well as lots of local color regarding the Austin, Texas area, this is a book that comes fully alive for the reader.  All of the above is a very long way of saying the book is very good and well worth your time.

To Hell And Gone In Texas

Russ Hall

http://www.russhall.com

Red Adept Publishing

http://redadeptpublishing.com/

August 2014

ISBN# 978-1-940215-33-4

Large Paperback (also available in e-book)

238 Pages

$13.99

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

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014