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Wiley Moss #2
Dead Dog Blues
Nothing ever happens in Pharaoh, Texas....
Drunks and missing auto parts headline the local crime wave until a barking dead dog shows up in millionaire Max Coomer's backyard. Then Coomer himself is discovered frosty cold and very dead, running for fame and glory forever down the gridiron at Pharaoh High.
That's just the beginning of the mayhem that erupts in a sleepy Texas town - and the start of temporary constable Jack Track's nightmarish pursuit of a maniac who doesn't like anyone in Pharaoh, Texas.
There are enough bizarre characters in Dead Dog Blues to convince any reader to steer clear of small towns. There's Jack's best friend, Earl Murphy, a black man who made a fortune on Wall Street and sleeps in his white Aston-Martin Lagonda by Jack's creek. There's George, the catfish mogul, and cheery funeral director Eddie Trost - plus an ever-growing cast of the local missing and dead.
Jack is content with lovely Cecily Benet, the frozen-yogurt queen, until Max Coomer's widow, Millie Jean, decides to fan the flames of her high-school romance with Jack - an affair that turns into double trouble when Millie's jailbait daughter, Smoothy, takes a run at Jack herself.
Author Neal Barrett, Jr., showed us he knows how to stir up an exciting blend of humor and suspense in his first mystery, Pink Vodka Blues (SMP, 1992). With Dead Dog Blues, he takes his place as one of the most talented writers in the field.
Drunks and missing auto parts headline the local crime wave until a barking dead dog shows up in millionaire Max Coomer's backyard. Then Coomer himself is discovered frosty cold and very dead, running for fame and glory forever down the gridiron at Pharaoh High.
That's just the beginning of the mayhem that erupts in a sleepy Texas town - and the start of temporary constable Jack Track's nightmarish pursuit of a maniac who doesn't like anyone in Pharaoh, Texas.
There are enough bizarre characters in Dead Dog Blues to convince any reader to steer clear of small towns. There's Jack's best friend, Earl Murphy, a black man who made a fortune on Wall Street and sleeps in his white Aston-Martin Lagonda by Jack's creek. There's George, the catfish mogul, and cheery funeral director Eddie Trost - plus an ever-growing cast of the local missing and dead.
Jack is content with lovely Cecily Benet, the frozen-yogurt queen, until Max Coomer's widow, Millie Jean, decides to fan the flames of her high-school romance with Jack - an affair that turns into double trouble when Millie's jailbait daughter, Smoothy, takes a run at Jack herself.
Author Neal Barrett, Jr., showed us he knows how to stir up an exciting blend of humor and suspense in his first mystery, Pink Vodka Blues (SMP, 1992). With Dead Dog Blues, he takes his place as one of the most talented writers in the field.
- GenresCrime
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
1 person is currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Neal Barrett Jr.
150 books44 followersNeal Barrett, Jr. was a writer of fantasy, science fiction, mystery/suspense, and historical fiction. His story "Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus" was nominated for both the 1988 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and the 1989 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 27, 2016
Neal Barrett Jr. gives us a crime novel set in North Texas. His writing must have had a great effect on Joe R. Lansdale as there is much of a similar flavor in their writing. For example "In Dead Dog Blues"
our hero gets a call from a friend telling him of a "dead electric dog barking up a storm".
See what I mean ? Tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
Unlike the previous "Blues" book "Pink Vodka Blues" we have different characters, different locales, and the book has more of a noir flavor. However we have the same humor and good story telling and fantastic writing.
A worthy successor.
our hero gets a call from a friend telling him of a "dead electric dog barking up a storm".
See what I mean ? Tongue firmly planted in his cheek.
Unlike the previous "Blues" book "Pink Vodka Blues" we have different characters, different locales, and the book has more of a noir flavor. However we have the same humor and good story telling and fantastic writing.
A worthy successor.
April 16, 2023
A detective novel with eccentric characters , suspense and humor.....
May 10, 2013
Since I have only previously read Neal Barrett Jr's excellent science fiction novels, this well written crime novel set in North Texas was a surprise to me, and a very pleasant one. Jack Track in the town constable of Pharaoh, Texas, i.e., the door-knob shaker after businesses close their doors for the night, but he does precious little of that since he had hired dim-witted (but well-meaning) Henry D to make sure everything is locked up tight in the town where Jack grew up, yet was mysteriously absent from for a number of years. Instead of doing what he's paid to do, Jack spends most of his time dallying with a woman who owns a string of frozen yogurt shops across Texas and drinking the expensive single malt whiskey of his friend Earle, who manages to be as unpopular as Jack (well, maybe not quite) by being both Black and rich.
Pharaoh is a town where hatreds run very deep, where the sins committed in high school, and even earlier, can follow you the rest of your life. It's also a place where people never really change, except they get better at being what they are -- bullies get meaner, jerks become bigger jerks, loners become even more lonely. No one can figure out why Jack, having left it all behind when he slunk out of town after high school, came back. Some hate him because he left, some because he came back, and others simply because they have always hated him so why change now.
Jack, who in this book is the teller of his own story, is content with keeping his head low and off everyone's radar, and we gradually learn why. All that comfortable anonymity, however, comes to an end when Jack receives an early morning call from Henry D telling him that there's a "dead electric dog barking up a storm" in the backyard of Max Coomer, richest man and biggest s.o.b in Pharaoh. Henry is usually a little slow on the pick up, but he hits the nail squarely this time -- someone had killed Max's ornery watch dog, attached a stick from its broken jaw to a turn-table to make it move like he's barking, and hung a cassette player around his neck to make him bark -- yep, a dead electric dog.
It's a sick thing to do, but Jack and Sheriff Deke (they hate each other of course) think that at worse they have some lunatic running around playing practical jokes. Nobody is laughing much, though, when somebody does the same sort of thing to Max. No keeping it out of the papers, no keeping investigators from coming down from Austin, and no keeping photographers from now and then snapping Jack picture. And then it gets worse, as bodies begin piling up, people start disappearing, fingers show up in the mail, and the stalwarts of the town are revealed for the wretched sinners they are. And then it gets even worse than that.
Dead Dog Blues is a great crime noir novel that should make people think twice (at least) about settling in some seemingly quiet little town. Rivers of hate never dry up, especially in those pocket universes where old foes see each other every day and ever dream about getting even, and about keeping secrets that should never see the light of day.
Pharaoh is a town where hatreds run very deep, where the sins committed in high school, and even earlier, can follow you the rest of your life. It's also a place where people never really change, except they get better at being what they are -- bullies get meaner, jerks become bigger jerks, loners become even more lonely. No one can figure out why Jack, having left it all behind when he slunk out of town after high school, came back. Some hate him because he left, some because he came back, and others simply because they have always hated him so why change now.
Jack, who in this book is the teller of his own story, is content with keeping his head low and off everyone's radar, and we gradually learn why. All that comfortable anonymity, however, comes to an end when Jack receives an early morning call from Henry D telling him that there's a "dead electric dog barking up a storm" in the backyard of Max Coomer, richest man and biggest s.o.b in Pharaoh. Henry is usually a little slow on the pick up, but he hits the nail squarely this time -- someone had killed Max's ornery watch dog, attached a stick from its broken jaw to a turn-table to make it move like he's barking, and hung a cassette player around his neck to make him bark -- yep, a dead electric dog.
It's a sick thing to do, but Jack and Sheriff Deke (they hate each other of course) think that at worse they have some lunatic running around playing practical jokes. Nobody is laughing much, though, when somebody does the same sort of thing to Max. No keeping it out of the papers, no keeping investigators from coming down from Austin, and no keeping photographers from now and then snapping Jack picture. And then it gets worse, as bodies begin piling up, people start disappearing, fingers show up in the mail, and the stalwarts of the town are revealed for the wretched sinners they are. And then it gets even worse than that.
Dead Dog Blues is a great crime noir novel that should make people think twice (at least) about settling in some seemingly quiet little town. Rivers of hate never dry up, especially in those pocket universes where old foes see each other every day and ever dream about getting even, and about keeping secrets that should never see the light of day.
September 25, 2020
I really didn't know what to expect, when I picked this book up and started reading. It was written by the father of a friend of mine, and I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out it was way better than I had expected. And it was VERY reminiscent of the stuff from another author I've been reading lately - Lou Berney. This was a quirky (and I like me some quirky!) "Who-dun-it?" with a pretty likable anti-hero who has a cocky and snarky attitude. Oh, and I like me some snarky, too - so it had that going for it...which is nice! The writing is very well done - especially since it manages to capture the feel of the Texas Hill Country, and depicts the unique flavors of sleepy, small-town Texas characters. That's not to say that these characters are representative of the fine folks in the Hill Country, but they are at least plausible within their setting, and the dialect was properly reflected. Oh, and speaking of which - the dialogue was fun, clever, witty, and highly enjoyable - making the interplay of characters the most effective vehicle for really drawing me into the story. It had just enough bizarre without being gross or overdone, but enough to not be sugar-sweet. For more reasons than this, I plan to continue reading through Neal Barrett Jr.'s bibliography, and hope that his other books are as enjoyable. I felt a wonderful compulsion to not put this book down any more than I absolutely had to. It was good fun! I look forward to his other stories.
April 8, 2012
A good read. Like a Joe Lansdale book. Truly great dialog.
July 24, 2015
A different read than Pink Martini, but a ride nonetheless! The characters didn't garner as much empathy, but the twisted tale did not disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews