Honky Tonk Samurai

Starred review from December 21, 2015
At the start of Edgar-winner Lansdale’s terrific 11th entry in his Hap and Leonard series (after 2013’s Dead Aim), Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who are doing some freelance detective work, are on a stakeout in their car watching a house in an East Texas town when they notice a man abusing a dog. Leonard jumps out of the car, knocks the man to the ground, and takes the dog. An octogenarian neighbor, Lilly Buckner, who captures the incident on camera, tells them that she’ll go to the cops unless they help her find her missing granddaughter. What begins as a simple missing persons case soon turns into a full-scale assault against a group of elite hired assassins. But Hap and Leonard assemble their own team, including series regular Jim Bob Luke, a mercenary known only as Booger, and the beautiful but deadly Vanilla Ride. This shambolic, action-packed novel will ensnare new readers and satisfy devoted fans alike. With the Sundance Channel’s highly anticipated Hap and Leonard cable series coming in early 2016, this really could be Lansdale’s year. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International.

Whodathunk that the act of rescuing an abused dog would lead Hap and Leonard down a deep rabbit hole in the eleventh book in Lansdale's popular series? Employing an East Texas drawl, narrator Christopher Grant ably gives voice to the mismatched investigators and their longtime friends and allies, along with ne'er-do-wells from around their small town of LaBorde. A search for a disagreeable old woman's absent granddaughter leads them to vintage cars, hot women and the Dixie Mafia. Grant's laconic delivery helps provide a Dust Bowl feel to this suspenseful production, right through its twist of an ending. D.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine