Can Ghosts Commit Murder?

     Sheriff Dan Rhodes has learned to put up with a lot from the folks of Blacklin County, Texas; not to mention the barrage of teasing and gossip he gets from his dispatcher, Hack, and his jailer, Lawton. Rhodes handles everything with a cool head and a good bit of compassion. Although, Rhodes is not what you would imagine when you think of a Texas sheriff. He doesn't wear a cowboy hat or boots; there isn't a six shooter strapped to his hip. In fact, he prefers the Kel-Tec he keeps in his ankle holster.
   Rhodes is a very logical and methodical investigator, so when Hack calls him in the middle of the night to back up Deputy Ruth Grady who is on a "shots fired" call at the local haunted house, Rhodes doesn't give it a second thought. After sloshing through the rain to the back of the house, he and Ruth find Neil Foshee, local meth dealer, face-down in one of the rooms. A cursory search doesn't turn up much else. The suspect list includes Neil's former girlfriend, Vicki, who happens to be friends with Rhodes's wife. There is also the nephew of Clearview's mayor, as well as Neil's partners in crime, his cousins Earl and Louie.
     Complicating his investigation is the fact that the house is said to be haunted. The former owner--a  man named Moore who also taught at the local high school--died in the house of a heart attack nearly forty years ago. (The house has remained empty since the owner's death; with only local drug dealers and vandals daring to venture inside.) By all accounts Moore was a bully of a teacher and he would use a BB gun to kill any animals that came onto his property.  Rhodes doesn't believe in ghosts, but his "friend" Seepy Benton, the community college math professor who fancies himself an unofficial investigator for the sheriff's department, does. Though Rhodes himself has had some creepy feelings of being watched while visiting the house, Rhodes is still a skeptic.
    Many folks--Hack and Lawton included--believe that the ghost has something to do with Neil's death. After the scene of Neil's death has been cleared, Benton wants Sheriff Rhodes to let them investigate the house. Knowing he won't have any peace until he lets the professor look around, Rhodes takes Benton and his partner through the house and they find a skeleton in a closet in the attic--a room Rhodes neglected to clear the night of the murder. Whoever the woman was--Benton can tell from the shape of the pelvic bones--Rhodes can see from the skull fracture that she must have been murdered or at least fallen and hit her head on something hard. But then, how did she get into the closet in the attic where she was found?
     On top of these two bodies, Rhodes has to deal with copper thieves, a runaway bull, a county commissioner who wants to arm the sheriff's department for WWIII, and the rest of the characters that occupy Blacklin County. What is a small town sheriff to do?

Who Killed the Professor?

Compound Murder is the latest Dan Rhodes Mystery by Bill Crider; and I have to tell you it was such a pleasant and easy read, that I finished it in just a couple of hours. Small town Texas sheriff, Dan Rhodes, just wishes the local Dr. Pepper manufacturer would go back to using real cane sugar in their formula, so that he could enjoy his daily caffeine. While musing over his boycott of the beverage, and staring at the Mr. Pibb bottle in front of him, the phone rings. Police dispatcher, Hack, tells him that the local beauty shop has been burgled and the thief made off with the hair! When sheriff Rhodes arrives, he finds that someone has broken in through the bathroom window and stolen all of the wigs and hair extensions made of natural hair--a pretty expensive bounty. Just as he is telling the owner to leave everything as it is and to cancel all of his appointments for the morning, Hack calls Rhodes again and tells him to get over to the local community college; there's a dead body. Math professor Seepy Benton, a graduate of the Citizens' Sheriff's Academy, is trying to keep all of the students and faculty away from the crime scene, but he's having little luck. The sheriff helps herd the students and professors inside and takes a look at the body, but before he can get into any real police work, a car peels out of the parking lot and Rhodes give chase, leaving Seepy to guard the area. A high speed chase ensues that winds up with the suspect's car smashed into a tree with its trunk wide open and Rhodes' windshield cracked and sagging. Turns out, the driver is 19 year-old Ike Terrell, son of the local doomsday prepper, Able Terrell. Rhodes finds the missing hair in the open trunk of Ike's car. The Terrells are thought to be gun-toting, survivalists that have fenced themselves inside the family property. Ike is unwilling to talk, so Rhodes has no choice, but to book him. This is all just the first couple of chapters. Sheriff Rhodes also has to deal with copper thieves, wrestle a pot-bellied pig, calm trigger-happy deputies, all the while trying to find out who murdered English professor Earl Wellington. By all accounts, Wellington was not liked. He was a picky when it came to his students attendance and work and he lacked the social skills necessary to make friends. Rhodes' investigation is fraught with red herrings and the diversions of small-town America and peppered with the humor and frailty of the human condition. I can't reveal anymore without giving away the story, so you'll just have to give it a go!

The Goddess of Fried Okra

I have to admit, the first time I read this book's title, it made me very hungry! If you like the book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe' by Fannie Flagg, you will also enjoy The Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear. The story's heroine is six-foot redhead Eudora "Pea" O'Brien, a convenience store employee who leaves Austin, TX with everything she owns packed in the back of her beat-up car. She is searching for the reincarnated soul of the sister who raised her after her parents died, based on the advice of a psychic. For Pea, everything that was right in her world took a nosedive when her sister died, and she believes that if she can see her again, and make peace with her, her world will vastly improve. Pea travels along the backroads of Texas, reading historical markers and listening for signs from her sister to point her along the right path. On her journey she picks up some strays--a terrified kitten, a pregnant teen she rescues from her abusive boyfriend and a con man trying to reform. When the car finally dies in Jewel, TX, she meets an unlikely group of folks and the whole menagerie stays for a spell while the car gets fixed, Pea works at the local cafe' to help pay for the car repairs and she meets an unlikely pair of sisters. This book is a wistful, humorous story of a woman who sets out to find her reincarnated sister but ends up finding herself. It is truly a delightful read. I also enjoyed the format of this book, as easy chapter opens with an explanation of a "historical" marker about a person or place that has something to do with the story. The library only owns the Large Print format of this book, so make sure you search for it in the Large Print section when you want to check it out!

The Confession by John Grisham

I have been listening to the audio book in CD format of John Grisham's latest book, The Confession, for the past week as I drive to and from work. This is an audio book that has made me want to pass up my exit and keep driving until I finish the book! The novel is a tense look at the death penalty in Texas, through the eyes of the accused, the victim's family and the murderer. The book is jam-packed with typical Grisham characteristics---crooked politicians, detailed legal proceedings, lawyers interpreting the law as they see fit, and strong small-town citizens just trying to do the right thing. The writing is very detailed and Grisham portrays the citizens of Texas in a believable way. I do not want to give away any good details of the plot, but the basic story is that Dante' Drum is a 26-year-old African American man who was convicted of the murder of Nicole Yarborough, a white high-school cheerleader, when they were both 18 and Seniors at Sloan High School. Dante' has been on death row for nine years and the story opens six days before his scheduled execution. Lots of events occur within the six days, and I guarantee that you won't predict what happens. If you love riveting legal thrillers, then this book is the one for you! If you like this book I also suggest you try reading Greg Iles' 24 Hours, another tense thriller that will make your pulse pound. This book is true Grisham writing and I predict that this book will soon become a movie.

Take a Vanilla Ride

Vanilla Ride is the new novel by Joe R. Lansdale, starring Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, best friends who are also trouble makers and guys with the best intentions. In this book, they once again stumble into a bad situation, this time with several members of the Dixie Mafia. Hap Collins is from East Texas and Leonard Collins is a gay, black, veteran who's heart is pining for his lost love. An old friend asks Leonard to rescue his daughter from an abusive drug dealer and he agrees, and invites Hap along to help him. The drug dealer is a member of the Dixie Mafia, and even though he is on the bottom rung of the organization's ladder, when Hap and Leonard rough him up, the mafia feels obligated to give back some revenge of their own. Hap and Leonard narrowly escape, but end up on the radar of Vanilla Ride, the legendary hit man who's goal is to eliminate them as a threat. Set in Texas, this page-turning, filled with humor novel will carry readers along for the ride throughout all of the pages of the book. The first novel in the Hap and Leonard series is Savage Season; this book gives great background on how Hap and Leonard became friends.