The Big Thaw - Softcover

Harstad, Donald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 184115394X ISBN 13: 9781841153940

Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2000

Synopsis

The third book following ‘Eleven Days’ and ‘The Known Dead’ to feature Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman. As usual, what initally looks like a small time midwinter break-in leads to something much bigger – a milliondollar siege of a floating casino on the frozen Mississippi River. But the temperature is rising and the heat is on Carl...

It’s thirty below zero in the heartland of Iowa. If you go outside and throw a pan of boiling water in the air it doesn’t come back down. The Mississippi River – which ironically runs through Iowa – three-quarters of a mile wide – is frozen solid (cars drive across it) and with it – the Colonel Beauregard – a floating casino. Carl Houseman comes upon Fred, a petty crook, lurking at the end of a driveway one night. There have been a few break-ins reported at the houses of the rich folk who have escaped to Florida for the winter. Fred confesses that he and his two cousins have been responsible for a few of them but now he’s worried. He dropped his cousins off at this house a few days ago so they could break in and rob it and they never came out. On entering the house Carl finds the frozen bodies of the cousins. Murdered. Poor Fred is top of everyone’s immediate suspect list but Carl thinks he’s innocent. Then he chases another shady character – who turns out to be an FBI agent. So why are the FBI on the scene? Because there’s been a tip-off that a big bank robbery is going to go down. But where? Carl’s leads finally take him to the floating casino – where his friend and partner Hester Gorse is pulling security duty. Can he save her before the big thaw?

About this title

Review:

The temperature is falling in Nationa County, Iowa--it should be a quiet time of year for Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman and his partner, General Criminal Agent Hester Gorse. With two key duties to divvy up, Gorse opts for security duty on the popular floating casino The Beauregard, leaving Houseman responsible for the rest of the county, not that taxing for either of them at first glance. However, a car chase down snow-locked backcountry roads is only the start of things for Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman. Petty crook Freddie has been driving for his burglar cousins the Colsons and is worried when they fail to come back to the car. The Sheriff finds them shot dead and stacked in the yard of the Borglan farm. Borglan himself is in Florida, but the signs are not good, there is right-wing literature on his bookshelves and someone has been using his computer. Something big is going down, some hardened criminals have set their sights on The Beauregard. Houseman is compelled to involve the FBI but fights hard to maintain his dignity, his integrity and control of his operation. This is a book with an admirable sense of place and season, which is brilliant on what happens to the time-word procedures of police work when an average cop finds himself up against someone who plays by very different rules. Written by a man who spent 26 years as the deputy sheriff in north eastern Iowa the plot could not fail to ring true. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

‘Harstad’s books are terrific and really capture the atmosphere of small-town America, where the 20th-century almost seems to have slipped by unnoticed.’ Independent on Sunday

‘Harstad’s first-hand experience ensures his storytelling always rings true.’ Arena

‘The Big Thaw, set in the dead of winter in a Fargo-like Mid-West, is American procedural writing at its best.’ Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 184115394X
• ISBN 13: 9781841153940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368