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 the office. In this story, he is chasing down stolen emus, while looking for the person who murdered Elijah "Lije" Ward, who has recently had to give up his hardware store due to the competition from Walmart. Along the way, the sheriff discovers that the murder victim had recently gotten involved with cockfighting, which is illegal but a way to make money.
My thoughts:
Crider's mysteries starring Dan Rhodes are always an entertaining read, and this one seems to be a good picture of Texas in the 1990's. Sometimes they are described as almost cozy, with a good bit of humor, but this one has a dark side too. Later there is a second death, and it is clear that someone in the community is responsible.
Murder Most Fowl was published in 1994 and I think raising emus was pretty new in the US back then. I did not even know that emu farming existed. And I learned more about cockfighting in this book than I wanted to know.
I always enjoy the recurring secondary characters. Hack Jensen, the dispatcher, and Lawton, the jailer are older men, well past retirement age, who work for next to nothing, and love their jobs. They provide some of the humor. Hack is always pushing for new technical gadgets for the sheriff. Ruth Grady is the only deputy, and I would not mind seeing more of her in the books. Rhodes' wife, Ivy, has to put up with a lot, with the amount of time he has to put into his job plus worrying about his safety. Speedo, the dog, was orphaned in Shotgun Saturday Night, the second book in the series, and Rhodes took him in. He is still around, of course.
Bill Crider often included references to his favorite foods and other things he liked (old paperback mysteries and vintage films) in his Dan Rhodes books. The sheriff's favorite soda is Dr. Pepper but Ivy has put a stop to his eating the high sugar and high fat foods he loves. Rhodes does admit that he fits into his clothes better now, but he still occasionally sneaks in a favorite lunch or snack while working. In this book he is watching old Randolph Scott westerns with Ivy (my husband and I have a few of those on disc that we haven't watched yet). And Rhodes discusses Ed McBain and his various pseudonyms with his friend Clyde Ballinger, the funeral director.
This is the seventh book in Bill Crider's longest running series; there are a total of 25 books; the final book was published in 2019. I want to read the whole series in order, but at this point I have a good number of the later books in the series and will have to locate more of the earlier ones.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1994
Length: 200 pages
Format: Hardcover
Series: Sheriff Dan Rhodes, #7
Setting: Texas
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: I purchased my copy.
13 comments:
Goodness me, emu farming is a new one on me for a murder mystery. LOL! Love the sound of it, can't say I'd heard of the author at all.
Always nice to see his name anywhere.
This really is a good series, Tracy. Crider always did the setting so very well, I think, and the plots themselves are well crafted. I like Rhodes' character, too, and the way he develops over the series.
Hi Tracy, I've been looking for another mystery series and Dan Rhodes sounds like a sheriff worth following. The Texas setting sounds good and the secondary characters. I will put the first book in the series on my TBR list.
Cath, I was surprised to see emu farming in a book, especially a mystery. Bill Crider published about over sixty books starting in the 1980s, most of them mysteries, but also including westerns and horror novels. And I have read one Western, Outrage at Blanco featuring a woman protagonist, and several of the Dan Rhodes mysteries. There are a few other shorter series by him that I want to try.
Patti, I want to step up my reading of books and stories by Bill Crider. I have some of his short stories in ebook format, and I also have his novel with Humphrey Bogart as a featured character, We’ll Always Have Murder.
Margot, I have enjoyed every book I have read in this series. They sort of follow a formula, but each one has a different focus. I think Dan Rhodes needs some more deputies.
Kathy, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series is definitely worth trying, and I hope you like it. I have only lived in Texas once, for 2 to 3 months, decades ago, and in a big city. I enjoyed it, it was the eastern part and green and beautiful at the time. But this series is set in a rural part of Texas and shows small town life in Texas.
Glad you found another good series to enjoy!
Lark, this should be such an easy series for me to keep up with, even with so many books, because it is a comfort read and the books are short. This book was only 200 pages and I think even the later books stay under 300 pages.
You can't go wrong with a Bill Crider mystery! I'm glad you liked my review of THE GOLDEN AGE OF BIBLIOMYSTERIES. If you're interested in more, you might be interested in MURDER BY THE BOOK: http://georgekelley.org/fridays-forgotten-books-754-murder-by-the-book-mysteries-for-bibliophiles-edited-by-martin-edwards/
You are so right, George, I haven't read a Bill Crider book I did not like. I do want to diversify and read one in the Truman Smith series and the Carl Burn series.
I have read the stories in Murder by the Book, earlier this year. And it was a very good read. Thanks for pointing me to your review of it.
Tracy, I think I feel the same way as you about this series! I always enjoy them, and change my mind about how cozy/hard-boiled they are. I have read a few - I am not trying to read them in order - and always happy to pick one up. I haven't read this one (I would have remembered emus and cock-fighting) but I have one on the shelf waiting for me, I'm not sure which one it is. Dan Rhodes is a great character.
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