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Wolf Creek #3
WOLF CREEK: Murder in Dogleg City
Dogleg City is what folks in Wolf Creek call the seedy part of town. Life is cheap there, and death is common. At first this murder seemed like any other -but the more Marshal Sam Gardner and his deputies learn about it, the more it seems this death will blow Wolf Creek wide open...
178 pages, Paperback
First published December 5, 2012
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January 31, 2013
Under cover of darkness, a newcomer is shot in the back outside a saloon in the disreputable area of Wolf Creek known as Dogleg City. The dead drifter’s valuables remain in his pockets, so robbery wasn’t the motive. As the murder investigation progresses and residents’ past indiscretions are exposed, prominent citizens on both sides of the law fall under suspicion.
Less bloody than its predecessors, the third volume in the Wolf Creek series mixes classical western tropes with a twisty whodunit that would have made Agatha Christie proud. Suspense and intrigue wind through every page. Even seemingly innocuous details and relationships play significant roles in the resolution.
Authors (in order of appearance) L.J. Washburn, Jerry Guin, Chuck Tyrell, Troy D. Smith, Matthew P. Mayo, and Phil Dunlap introduce a bevy of new characters in Murder in Dogleg City. The only familiar face belongs to Marshal Sam Gardner, whose sarcastic intellect and cynicism can’t quite hide the tiny embers of honor that life and circumstances keep trying to extinguish. Beneath a veneer of official corruption — an open secret in the town — Gardner is a decent man, often juxtaposing a startling compassion with an almost sneering disrespect for human weaknesses like drunkenness and idealism. His complexity reflects the best and the worst of everyone around him, tying together the story’s disparate threads.
It’s almost impossible to mention juicy bits of Murder in Dogleg City without revealing essential pieces of the murder-mystery puzzle. A number of excursions into characters’ backstories are more meaningful than they initially seem — and what a mesmerizing bunch of characters this group is. From the upstanding (Deputy Quint Croy) to the pitiable (town drunk Rupe Tingley) to the overtly or discretely dangerous (bounty hunter Rattlesnake Jake and gambler Samuel Jones, respectively) to the downright mercenary (saloon owner Ira Breedlove), each is the story’s standout…until the next one takes over the narration.
An excellent read, Murder in Dogleg City will keep readers entertained and on their toes until the very last sentence.
(Review copy provided by the publisher.)
Less bloody than its predecessors, the third volume in the Wolf Creek series mixes classical western tropes with a twisty whodunit that would have made Agatha Christie proud. Suspense and intrigue wind through every page. Even seemingly innocuous details and relationships play significant roles in the resolution.
Authors (in order of appearance) L.J. Washburn, Jerry Guin, Chuck Tyrell, Troy D. Smith, Matthew P. Mayo, and Phil Dunlap introduce a bevy of new characters in Murder in Dogleg City. The only familiar face belongs to Marshal Sam Gardner, whose sarcastic intellect and cynicism can’t quite hide the tiny embers of honor that life and circumstances keep trying to extinguish. Beneath a veneer of official corruption — an open secret in the town — Gardner is a decent man, often juxtaposing a startling compassion with an almost sneering disrespect for human weaknesses like drunkenness and idealism. His complexity reflects the best and the worst of everyone around him, tying together the story’s disparate threads.
It’s almost impossible to mention juicy bits of Murder in Dogleg City without revealing essential pieces of the murder-mystery puzzle. A number of excursions into characters’ backstories are more meaningful than they initially seem — and what a mesmerizing bunch of characters this group is. From the upstanding (Deputy Quint Croy) to the pitiable (town drunk Rupe Tingley) to the overtly or discretely dangerous (bounty hunter Rattlesnake Jake and gambler Samuel Jones, respectively) to the downright mercenary (saloon owner Ira Breedlove), each is the story’s standout…until the next one takes over the narration.
An excellent read, Murder in Dogleg City will keep readers entertained and on their toes until the very last sentence.
(Review copy provided by the publisher.)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review