On This Page
Description
Sheriff Dan Rhodes knows it's going to be a bad day when Bert Ramsey arrives at the jail with a neatly wrapped arm and lays it on Dan's desk. He has another out in the truck, he tells the sheriff, and "a couple of legs, too, but they don't match up."To Rhodes's relief, the severed limbs—part of a large cache Bert has discovered while clearing brush—are not evidence of a mass murderer at large in Blacklin County, but something more on a par with the usual emergencies the Texas lawman has show more to deal with: cows loose in the churchyard, ninety-year-old Mrs. Thurman's periodic attacks of "blindness" (which Rhodes cures by sending out a deputy with fresh light bulbs), and the like. Meanwhile, back at the jail, his attenuated employees are bristling about the new deputy, a highly qualified police officer, but a woman, and the air conditioner has collapsed during the heat wave. Plus his personal life has its own problems; does he or does he not want to marry Ivy Daniel?
Then Bert Ramsey is shot to death, and serious crime takes over. A tattoo on the body discloses that Ramsey was once a member of Los Muertos, a violent motorcycle gang from the city, and current members of the gang turn up in Blacklin County. There are questions: Where did the town handyman get the money to buy two color television sets, two VCRs, and a houseful of new furniture? Not to mention six thousand dollars in cash rolled up in a sock in Bert's dresser drawer. Dan Rhodes doesn't have access to the high-tech detection methods of city police—and probably wouldn't use them if he had. Dan has to talk to people and sift the facts from the lies. If he is careful, he believes, and keeps it up, he'll usually get results. "Keeping it up" involves tangling with Wyneva Greer, Ramsey's former girlfriend now living with a mysterious newcomer to the town, Buster Cullens. Buster becomes the next murder victim—of the same killer? Rhodes isn't sure. He soon tangles with the bikers, sustaining a certain amount of damage in the process.
Dan Rhodes is, in the words of Newgate Callender of The New York Times Book Review, "a quiet man, an honest man and a stubborn man," and it seems that no amount of violence is going to deter him from getting to the bottom of the murders in his relatively peaceful and beautifully evoked Texas county.
. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
This is the second in the long-running Sheriff Dan Rhodes series set in Texas. Originally published in 1987, it mentions Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels a few times-- usually to mention that Rhodes' small bailiwick doesn't have near the amount of "high tech" that the 87th has. (And just imagine how the tech has changed since 1987!)
Rhodes has to sort out his feelings for his girlfriend while he tries to unravel all the knots in this mystery, and I enjoyed following along. Sometimes it's just plain relaxing to have a mystery with no cell phones or forensics, you know?
Rhodes has to sort out his feelings for his girlfriend while he tries to unravel all the knots in this mystery, and I enjoyed following along. Sometimes it's just plain relaxing to have a mystery with no cell phones or forensics, you know?
drugs and gangs in small Texas county but the likely suspect didn't do the shotgun killings-a grieveing mother did. good characters
Sheriff Dan Rhodes #2
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
90+ Works 2,541 Members
Bill Crider was born in Mexia, Texas on July 28, 1941. He received a M.A. from the University of North Texas and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He taught English at Howard Payne University for twelve years and then became the chair of the division of English and fine arts at Alvin Community College. He retired in August 2002 to show more become a full-time writer. He wrote several mystery series including the Truman Smith series, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Carl Burns series, the Sally Good series, and the Stanley Waters series, which he co-authored with Willard Scott. He also contributed to three books in the Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series under the pseudonym Jack Buchanan. His standalone novels included The Texas Capitol Murders and Blood Marks. He also wrote five children's books. Too Late to Die won an Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1986. He died from cancer on February 12, 2018 at the age of 76. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Shotgun Saturday Night
- People/Characters
- Sheriff Dan Rhodes
- Important places
- Blacklin County, Texas
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 59
- Popularity
- 520,680
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.62)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 5
