Plains Crazy

Third in the “Mad Dog & Englishman” series. Full of wry humor, bizarre happenings, interesting characters, and the very essence of small-town Midwestern life, this series set in Kansas and featuring Sheriff English and his half-brother Mad Dog, is in my opinion one of the most sadly overlooked and seldom talked-about mystery series out there. When a teenage boy, a member of a family doing a re-enactment of Cheyenne life in the 1860’s for PBS, dies with an authentic Cheyenne arrow in his back, Mad Dog is looked at as the first suspect. Until it’s determined that he was probably the intended victim, that is. Then, the bank is robbed and several crudely-made bombs explode at different locales in town accompanied by notes from a show more terrorist with terrible grammar, and Judy, Englishman’s wife, insists that they take a trip to Paris in the midst of it all. As the story progresses from one madcap scene to the next, there is a sense of total incredulity and frequent “No way!” exclamations from inside the brain, but also one of pause as you think, “Okay, I CAN see that happening after all…bizarre coincidence, but it could happen!” but not likely strung together in a series of events such as depicted in this book. Still, it’s highly entertaining and felt like a visit with well-loved friends once again. Was glad to see that Hayes had a fourth book in series published earlier this month—I look forward to it! show less