It seems like the elected officials of Blacklin County, Texas have way too much time on their hands and spend it
taking cheap shots at Sheriff Dan Rhodes. He is being hounded by a commissioner to get the department website up
and running, and criticized by a local judge for creating a vigilante mentality among the locals by putting on a
"Citizen’s Sheriff Academy."
Mercifully, he is called to duty when an explosion destroys a mobile home outside of town. Rhode’s investigation
turns up the body of Terry Crawford, one of the trailer’s occupants. The sheriff immediately suspects foul play
because explosions don’t usually produce bullet holes in their victims. Terry’s brother Larry, the other resident,
wasn’t at home at the time. As the sheriff surveys the crime scene he spots a still and a fresh batch of moonshine
in a small wooded area just outside the mobile home. Larry blames it all on his deceased brother.
Next door neighbor C.P. "Seepy" Benton, a recently transplanted math teacher, has long suspected that the
Crawford brothers were up to no good and, as a graduate of the Citizen’s Sheriff Academy, is convinced that he can
be of great help in solving the murder. Sheriff Rhodes isn’t so sure.
With the limited resources of a small department, the Sheriff is not able to assign a deputy to babysit the
still while he makes arrangements to confiscate it and when he returns to the scene, the still, and his evidence,
has disappeared.
The investigation eventually leads to a restaurant that was frequented by the Crawford brothers and is suspected
of serving the illegal alcohol. While Rhodes is interviewing the restaurant owner in the parking lot, a speeding
pickup truck rolls in off of the highway, wreaking havoc and sending everyone diving for cover. The truck rams the
restaurant owner into the side of a dumpster, killing him and then roars out of the parking lot leaving Sheriff
Rhodes injured on the ground. Once again the evidence is gone.
Rhodes is not a quitter and he tenaciously pursues all leads, including the ones provided by Seepy, the strange
math teacher. But all the while the county officials continue to hound him over menial and unimportant tasks. And
Rhodes can’t ignore his responsibility to maintain law and order in the county. His job is sizable.
Eventually, Rapper and Nellie, a couple of very bad characters from the past, surface on the scene and the
pieces begin to fall into place. Rapper is definitely the kind of guy who would use a pickup truck as a weapon.
This is the fifteenth Dan Rhodes mystery novel in Bill Crider’s series. It’s actually the first one that I’ve
read and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although murder is decidedly a dark subject, Crider’s
treatment is bright and sometimes quite humorous. The trivial stuff that a small town Sheriff deals with on a
daily basis doesn’t diminish just because there’s been a murder. The Sheriff is expected to stay on top of
things like possums under porches and UFOs hovering over back yards while he’s trying to track down the bad guys.
And Rhodes does a credible job; he even manages to attend a book signing and get a fire lit under the department’s
website. Read it; you’ll like it.