Sunset and Sawdust - Softcover

Lansdale, Joe R

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0753819937 ISBN 13: 9780753819937

Publisher: Phoenix, 2005

Synopsis

When Pete Jones, the local constable, is shot dead, his widow, Sunset, finds herself in his job, investigating a series of brutal murders. Most of the townsfolk object to her wearing Pete's gun and badge, some because this is the 1930s and they think a woman's place is in the home, others because it was Sunset who blew off Pete's head in the first place.

As much a modern western as a murder mystery, SUNSET & SAWDUST features a cast of outlandish characters -- gun-men, hobos, sheriffs, hookers, migrants and coloured families struggling to make living under the malevolent eyes of the Ku Klux Klan.

Sunset's investigation leads her and her friends into a labyrinth of greed, corruption, and unspeakable malice. Nothing and no-one are quite what they seem in Texas.

About this title

Review:

"[Sunset and Sawdust is] filled with turns and twists, nastiness, broad humor, moments of grace. . . . Lansdale is a storyteller in the great American tradition." -The Boston Globe

"A wonderfully nasty piece of work [that] inspires I-can't-believe-this laughter. . . . Very entertaining." -Newsday

The opening . . . will grab unsuspecting readers by the lapels and pull them right in. . . . Lansdale's prose--laconic and sarcastic--is so thick with slang and regional accent that it's as tasty as a well-cured piece of beef jerky." --The Denver Post

"Lansdale is an exceptional storyteller . . . readers will feel the Texas heat and hear the story in the author's unique East Texas drawl. The vivid characterization will make readers cheer for the protagonist and boo the villain." --Rocky Mountain News

"Delivers the unexpected and bizarre that his fans have come to expect. . . . The narrative is entertaining, but Lansdale's patently unvarnished storytelling-backwoods and brash all at once-is the real reason to crack this cover." --Texas Monthly

"Funny, bloody and bizarre. . . . Another five-star doozy of a tale from an immensely talented and original storyteller." --The Flint Journal

"Sunset Jones is the kind of woman that men who drink in East Texas bars would call a 'pistol.' As a tornado rips through the sawmill camp town of Rapture, in the rousing opening scene of Joe R. Lansdale's historical barnburner Sunset and Sawdust, Sunset finally puts a stop to her husband Pete's bloody beatings. . . . Soon Sunset has her own posse, including a wonderful dog whose abject adoration of the fiery gunslinger pretty much sums up this reader's feelings." --The New York Times Book Review

"A first-rate whodunnit. . . . [Lansdale] knows how to tell a story." --The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Sly, easy-paced and so comfortable in its setting that it becomes almost seductive. This is what good storytelling is all about." --Arizona Republic

"Lansdale can catch that meandering East Texas twang in his writing, but just as quickly he can tighten the plot and our stomachs with a turn of phrase. . . . Lansdale gives us both atmosphere and action." --Winston-Salem Journal

"Surrealistic. . . . Unpredictable. . . . A darker kind of storytelling." --Pittsburg Tribune-Review

Book Description:

A hard-edged crime thriller set at the start of the Texas oil boom in the 1930s

About this edition

• Publisher: Phoenix
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0753819937
• ISBN 13: 9780753819937
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336