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!