Prairie Gothic: A Mad Dog & Englishman Mystery - Softcover

Hayes, J.M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1458790029 ISBN 13: 9781458790026

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, 2012

Synopsis

Benteen County, Kansas, a hellhole in summer under scorching heat and winds, turns even meaner in winter. As a howling blizzard blows down upon Buffalo Springs, the sparsely populated county seat, Sheriff English is presented with a missing doll and a dead baby's switched, but by whom? And why? The elderly coroner disclaims any knowledge, but seems faintly uneasy, especially when the swastika on the tiny corpse is revealed. Meanwhile the sheriff's half-brother, Harvey Edward Maddox, also part Cheyenne and thus known as Mad Dog for his invocation of his Amerind heritage, has picked up a naked dead body from the Sunshine Towers retirement home and is heading towards a treetop burial when diverted by the storm. In a makeshift mound nearby, Mad Dog's pet hybrid-wolf finds a child's skull and evidence of mature bones. Also a fading ID for a living County Supervisor. Can the Hornbaker clan really be asgothicas it seems? And what of the tiny woman in the red shoes back at the Towers who calls herself Dorothy, underlying an odd note of Oz...

About this title

Review:

"This macabre, witty look at life and death on the Great Plains should win J.M. Hayes new fans."

"It is a dizzying novel, with montage cuts like a movie -- Robert Altman meets John Woo with a scary chunk of Roman Polanski thrown in -- but manages to work in wise and often amusing perceptions about the ways of American Indians, Plains states Christianity and the ways even Kansas is changing in the modern world."--San Jose Mercury News

"Hayes' character-driven story is so filled with enjoyable eccentric types that the mystery elements sometimes seem more like side issues. Among this book's cast are members of the extremely gothic (and probably inbred) Hornbaker family; a runaway little old lady who wears red shoes and answers to the name "Dorothy"; and even a witch who's being kept in a cage. Yet the serious subjects raised in PRAIRIE GOTHIC -- abortion, teen pregnancy in a conservative small town, etc. -- are handled both compassionately and believably. The action here moves along swiftly, culminating in a surprising, if somewhat bizarre, solution. Adding to the suspense is Hayes' decision to switch point of view frequently between the sheriff, Mad Dog and the Heathers...This is a fun and wacky sequel to MAD DOG AND ENGLISHMAN (2000), and I look forward to reading about the continuing adventures of these likable characters."-January Magazine

"If you read 'Mad Dog and Englishman, ' J.M. Hayes' first book about the eccentric residents of Buffalo Springs, Kan., you'll know how the author likes to toss into his creative blender a grocery cart full of diverse cultural elements--crime contemporary and historic, American Indian religion and medicine, the survival instincts necessary to live off of some very inhospitable real estate--and come up with something truly unusual.

Hayes brings back his odd couple of half-brothers here: the relatively sedate and reliable Sheriff English and Harvey 'Mad Dog' Maddox, who is part Cheyenne and is immersed up to his stringy neck in the shamanic practices of that half of his heritage. A dead baby found during a howling blizzard is the murder engine that jump-starts the narrative, but Hayes' colorful characters (sometimes a bit too heavily painted) have all sorts of other acts of mischief on their minds."--Chicago Tribune

"Switched identities, an infant who appears mysteriously, a madwoman locked away from the outside world--these and other gothic elements in Hayes&'s wry, briskly paced second novel (after 2000's Mad Dog and Englishman) would make Mrs. Radcliffe feel right at home. Sheriff English of Buffalo Springs, Kans., shows up at the Sunshine Towers Retirement Home, to try to identify the mother of a tiny corpse that one of the elderly residents has found. The sheriff's part Cheyenne half-brother, Mad Dog, has just liberated the body of Tommie Irons from the Towers and conveyed it for ritual release to the Happy Hunting Grounds, and then a blizzard shuts down the town, except for the Texaco station and the courthouse. Things could not be much worse--but they soon are, as a woman who calls herself Dorothy and wears bright red tennis shoes seems to be leading the sheriff and Mad Dog down the garden path. Juggling the several story lines with aplomb, Hayes shows that even quirky characters can ha

""Switched identities, an infant who appears mysteriously, a madwoman locked away from the outside world--these and other gothic elements in Hayes&'s wry, briskly paced second novel (after 2000's Mad Dog and Englishman) would make Mrs. Radcliffe feel right at home. Sheriff English of Buffalo Springs, Kans., shows up at the Sunshine Towers Retirement Home, to try to identify the mother of a tiny corpse that one of the elderly residents has found. The sheriff's part Cheyenne half-brother, Mad Dog, has just liberated the body of Tommie Irons from the Towers and conveyed it for ritual release to the Happy Hunting Grounds, and then a blizzard shuts down the town, except for the Texaco station and the courthouse. Things could not be much worse--but they soon are, as a woman who calls herself Dorothy and wears bright red tennis shoes seems to be leading the sheriff and Mad Dog down the garden path. Juggling the several story lines with aplomb, Hayes shows that even quirky characters can have a sober, thoughtful side when dealing with dilemmas of confidentiality and choice. This macabre, witty look at life and death on the Great Plains should win Hayes new fans.""-Publishers Weekly

About the Author:

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About this edition

• Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1458790029
• ISBN 13: 9781458790026
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384