Rusty Puppy

Starred review from December 19, 2016
The murder of Jamar Elton, a young black man, propels Edgar-winner Lansdale’s dark, moving 12th novel featuring crime fighters Hap Collins and Leonard Pine (after 2016’s Honky Tonk Samurai). A witness, recidivist criminal Timpson Weed, claims to have seen three white police officers beat Elton to death near a project house in the East Texas community of Camp Rapture. Unfortunately, Weed soon ends up dead. Aided by a motley crew, including Hap’s daughter, Chance, and Reba, who regards herself as a 400-year-old midget vampire (but is actually a tough-talking adolescent girl from the projects), Hap and Leonard follow a trail that keeps leading them to an old abandoned mill outside town, where illegal dogfights and perhaps even more sinister activities are taking place. As always, Lansdale spins a wild, rollicking yarn, but behind all the mayhem is a heartfelt tale about friendship, brotherhood, loyalty, and family. Hap and Leonard are complicated, violent men, but they display a basic humanity and decency that carries this remarkable series along. Seven-city author tour. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International.

In Joe Lansdale's twelfth Hap and Leonard novel, the bumbling private investigators from Texas find themselves embroiled in a racially motivated murder case. Christopher Ryan Grant returns for his second outing as narrator of this series and does an excellent job emphasizing the strong friendship between "white-trash rebel" Hap and gay, black Leonard. In addition, the humor and humanity prevalent in the story receive star treatment. However, the excesses in Lansdale's writing are also acutely noticeable in the oral format: wordiness and violence being foremost among them. Nonetheless, Lansdale's fans are sure to enjoy this latest installment, which rounds out an even dozen for the series, and it can also be appreciated by those who haven't experienced earlier titles. J.F. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine