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In this tenth installment of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Blacklin County Texas law enforcer is back to solve even more mysteries. Some of the most amusing sequences in Crider's Blacklin county mysteries are set in the jailhouse, and star the ongoing word battles between its two septuagenarian denizens, Hack the dispatcher and Lawton, the jailer. This time no one at the jailhouse is laughing and Rhodes has a new problem. Not only is the jailhouse itself rumored to be haunted, but a show more mysterious corpse is found in an open grave in the neighboring town. Rhodes uses his laid back sleuthing skills to find the answers to these puzzling events, which Crider depicts with his usual humor, suspense and small town ambiance.. show less
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A Ghost of a Chance by Bill Crider is a 2001 Worldwide publication.
Another delightful chapter in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series!
Rhodes has his handful when a feud between Historical societies leads to murder. If that weren’t enough, meth dealers and a ghost are also stirring up trouble in Blacklin County- and as always, the Sheriff’s crew hilariously tries his patience at every turn…
The story is short- very fast-paced and busy, but also a bit complex. I was very invested in the historical society thread, and the ghost story.
The side story about the meth ring was an ‘also ran’ in the story, but was part of the landscape in rural Texas at the time this book as published-and Rhodes explains why it was so hard to weed out the show more drug dealers in such a sparsely populated area.
The folksy jargon is charming- and as the book was published twenty years ago, some of the nostalgia has a bittersweet quality to it now.
I got a late start on this series- having only read a handful of the newer releases before Crider became ill. I vowed to go back and read the earlier installments in the series and have tried to piece the series together for the past few years.
I found this book in a paperback swap store, and since the storyline involved ghosts, I decided to make it one of my ‘Halloween’ picks this year. I’m really glad I did.
I have missed Sheriff Rhodes and the gang and truly enjoyed the mysteries, and the wonderful humor sprinkled throughout. The ‘Murder, She Wrote’ mentions, the cats, and the Emus were especially fun, as were Rhodes’ addiction to Dr. Pepper- which brings back fond memories.
Overall, a nice trip down memory lane- a good solid mystery or two- and just some good, old-fashioned storytelling. Fun stuff!!
4 stars show less
Another delightful chapter in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series!
Rhodes has his handful when a feud between Historical societies leads to murder. If that weren’t enough, meth dealers and a ghost are also stirring up trouble in Blacklin County- and as always, the Sheriff’s crew hilariously tries his patience at every turn…
The story is short- very fast-paced and busy, but also a bit complex. I was very invested in the historical society thread, and the ghost story.
The side story about the meth ring was an ‘also ran’ in the story, but was part of the landscape in rural Texas at the time this book as published-and Rhodes explains why it was so hard to weed out the show more drug dealers in such a sparsely populated area.
The folksy jargon is charming- and as the book was published twenty years ago, some of the nostalgia has a bittersweet quality to it now.
I got a late start on this series- having only read a handful of the newer releases before Crider became ill. I vowed to go back and read the earlier installments in the series and have tried to piece the series together for the past few years.
I found this book in a paperback swap store, and since the storyline involved ghosts, I decided to make it one of my ‘Halloween’ picks this year. I’m really glad I did.
I have missed Sheriff Rhodes and the gang and truly enjoyed the mysteries, and the wonderful humor sprinkled throughout. The ‘Murder, She Wrote’ mentions, the cats, and the Emus were especially fun, as were Rhodes’ addiction to Dr. Pepper- which brings back fond memories.
Overall, a nice trip down memory lane- a good solid mystery or two- and just some good, old-fashioned storytelling. Fun stuff!!
4 stars show less
Light crime fiction from a popular American author. A confusing number of characters (though possibly some of them were introduced in earlier novels in this 'Dan Rhodes' series). Fast-paced, set in a context that felt very foreign to me, with people who were so far from my circle of acquaintances that it was hard to believe in them.
No real characterisation, and a complex plot which is solved by a burst of intuition rather than logical reasoning, so I don't suppose there's any way a reader could have worked out 'whodunit'.
Still, it's not a bad book, and if you like this kind of American 'cosy' crime fiction (there's no gratuitous violence or gore, although a lot of shooting happens) it may be worth picking up for a weekend or holiday show more read.
Longer review here: http://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-ghost-of-chance-by-bill-crider.htm... show less
No real characterisation, and a complex plot which is solved by a burst of intuition rather than logical reasoning, so I don't suppose there's any way a reader could have worked out 'whodunit'.
Still, it's not a bad book, and if you like this kind of American 'cosy' crime fiction (there's no gratuitous violence or gore, although a lot of shooting happens) it may be worth picking up for a weekend or holiday show more read.
Longer review here: http://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2021/03/a-ghost-of-chance-by-bill-crider.htm... show less
An amusing little mystery which kept me entertained on my commute to work for a few days (it was an audiobook), but not exceptional.
Sheriff Dan Rhodes #10
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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
- A Ghost of a Chance
- People/Characters
- Sheriff Dan Rhodes
- Important places
- Blacklin County, Texas
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 81
- Popularity
- 391,199
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.89)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 1
