Murder in the Air

June 14, 2010
Sheriff Dan Rhodes faces two big non–crime-related problems in Crider's winning 18th mystery to feature the Clearview, Tex., lawman (after 2009's Murder in Four Parts). First, a pair of women authors have written a couple of novels starring Sage Barton, "a two-fisted action hero" supposedly based on Rhodes, to the sheriff's embarrassment. Second, Lester Hamilton's foul (or fowl) smelling chicken farm, while legal, provokes endless complaints from Lester's neighbors. When Lester's body turns up near a well-known fishing hole, Rhodes has a real crime on his hands. Meanwhile, he also has to deal with a mad bowman locals call Robin Hood, who's causing mischief by shooting arrows with notes attached, as well as women who protest chicken farming in skimpy feather-covered outfits and the dangers of "noodling," i.e., fishing for large catfish with one's hand for bait. Few will be able to resist Crider's brand of broad humor, eccentric characters, and murder.

July 1, 2010

Something is rotten in the state of Texas, and though Sheriff Dan Rhodes knows what it is, and who's responsible, there's not a blamed thing he can do about it.

Chickens—750,000 of them—inhabit Lester Hamilton's custom-built 33-building complex. They've made him a poultry mogul. They've also made him the odds-on favorite to win any Blacklin County unpopularity contest because they stink. "Smells like money," cackles Lester, a response not calculated to smooth ruffled Blacklin County feathers. Sheriff Rhodes is nothing if not empathetic, but since the chickens are scrupulously law-abiding, he can only commiserate with Lester's neighbors. Inevitably, someone goes further. When Lester's lifeless body is found floating among the catfish in Murdock's rock pit, Rhodes sees past the staged accident to murder most fowl. But now the task is how to cull the murderer from a suspect list that includes virtually every citizen in Blacklin County. His wife Ivy sees a killer in Hal Gillis, who discovered Lester's body. Professor Qualls, who, rather surprisingly, stands to benefit from Lester's will, also has his adherents. And how about that seemingly omnipresent Blacklin County incarnation of Robin Hood? Doesn't he have potential? So it goes.

Vintage Crider. When amiable, shrewd small-town Sheriff Rhodes (Murder in Four Parts, 2009, etc.) gets cracking, he can make an omelet with the best of them.

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July 1, 2010
The most hated man in Blacklin County, TX, is dead, the vast chicken farm he owned continues to be the center of an all-consuming controversy (it stinks up the whole county), and then there is Robin Hood, someone who is shooting arrows in protest. VERDICTCrider's use of subtle humor and Sheriff Dan Rhodes's unassuming competence make this 17th series entry a laid-back delight.

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