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RED WHITE AND BLUE MURDER
by Bill Crider
Thomas Dunne Books, October 2003
192 pages
$22.95
ISBN: 0312271859


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Sheriff Dan Rhodes is outside, contemplating his drought-stricken yard in the heat of an early Texas summer. so hot that even Yancy, the Pomeranian inside dog, is too lethargic to chase the larger outside dog, Speedo. When he finally gets to the office, he finds that Jennifer Loam, reporter for the local paper, wants to see him about a private matter. She accuses him, and several of the commissioners who run the county, of misusing county funds.

When she confronts the sheriff with the accusation that he used inmates to paint his house, Rhodes immediately refutes the accusation and offers to show her the bills from the contractor who actually did it. Young Jennifer is not fazed. She claims that her informant will give her proof that if not Rhodes, then at least one of the county commissioners did something wrong.

The conversation is cut short when Rhodes is called out to a scene of arson, with a body. The Old Parson's Place, which is actually owned by one of the commissioners, Grat Bilson, who turns out to be Loam's source, has burned. The body is that of Bilson. And things don't get simpler after that. Yvonne Bilson had been having an affair with commissioner Jay Beamon who had thrown her over in favor of an ex-con arsonist. And who owns all those fireworks stands in the county?

Don't start a Bill Crider book too close to bedtime. Going to Blacklin County to visit Sheriff Dan and his wife Ivy is like visiting old friends. Be prepared to 'come in and set a spell', while you catch up on their latest doings. Crider can get more into 200 pages than most authors can in 400.

Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, January 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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