Death and the Hubcap

Trudy Roundtree Mystery #2

by Linda Berry

Trudy Roundtree -- the only woman on the Ogeechee police force -- is not exactly excited about Hen Huckabee's request that she investigate Tanner Whitcomb's report that "he's run over somebody" given that Whitcomb is one of the town's odder he doesn't have a car or a driver's license, he simply walks/putt-putts around town holding his hands at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock on a hubcap. But when Trudy finally interprets Tanner's rambling, and the man leads her to a dead body with tire tracks on his shirt, Trudy has to think twice about the ability of a car-less weirdo to do someone in. Tanner's also "driving" with a brand-new hubcap, has the dead guy's watch and cell phone in his ever-present plastic bag, and swears he "bumped" the dead guy when he was "driving" the night before. Could it be that Tanner was actually the killer?

Genres: Mystery, Crime

239 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Linda Berry's Trudy Roundtree novels are set in rural south Georgia, but Linda lives in Colorado, where she's a community arts activist and an insatiable theatregoer. Other published credits include poetry, plays, preschool currriculum, and a newspaper entertainment column.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Cherry Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing that this fine series is so underrepresented in Kindle stone. Our protagonist has come home to a southern town where she gets a job as a cop from her chief of police relative. She doesn't know much about policing but she knows much about her people, their customs and habits. Her struggles against sexism, stereotypes, and square peg in round hole syndrome as she goes about proving she has what it takes to solve crimes are by turns funny, suspenseful, puzzling, comforting. A current series for comparison is Vicki Delany's Constable Moon aka Molly Smith although Delany spends little time with Molly while Berry is first person narrative all the way, my preferred narrative tense. Highly recommended.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating on this book probably isn't exactly fair. There were a couple of fairly long gaps in my reading, so I had a tough time each time getting back into the swing of things. But the pacing seemed off and the ending was so anticlimactic I wondered if I had missed a few pages.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trudy is sent to investigate Tanner's report that he ran over a body. Since Tanner walks everywhere with a hubcap as a steering wheel, Trudy doubts it is he who killed the victim.

She find the body under the bridge with a bandana of an ex con artist. She does identify the victim and a bunch of associates who have been swindled by him, including his wife and uncle.

Very funny in parts.

Well plotted.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the main character and descriptions as this story meandered along.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I know how to deal with it, and I consider the source." page 10.

[Stephen Dutton · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book Mom gave me out of the Springfield library's unsold used book sale. So far it's mildly interesting.

OK I kept reading up to page 75. I gave it a decent shot. BORING!! At least in this work, she is too wordy, and takes too long (for me) to get to the meat of the murder and the mystery. She has too many aside comments such that the dialog became confused where I often got lost as to what was actual conversation and what was an inside thought, which made it too tiring to read as it didn't flow well. These aside comment were often an attempt at humor which failed on me.

Thumbs down. I threw the book in the trash so that someone else won't ever have to suffer through it.

[Gusto Dave]

The author of this title is an RMFW member. For that reason, we do not rate these selections. We’re kind of biased. However, it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t have them on our shelves. And you’ll see this message on any other titles that come from our members. We do hope that you’ll consider reading it, though. ;)

Gusto Dave, Publicity Chair for RMFW

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books I read a while ago, and just came across them again. I have such a vivid memory of my mom laughing so hard as we were sitting at the beach in San Diego. She couldn't stop laughing, because this was such a refreshing, charming murder mystery. Great author, glad I came across her again!!!

[Sarahandus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Trudy Roundtree stories, the down home flavor and the interaction between Trudy and Hen is wonderfully funny. The characters are people you would meet in any town, well maybe not Turner and his hubcap, but it's not impossible.

Turner "drives" a hubcap as a car and reports he ran over a person.The body has tire marks on it, now doesn't that get your interest?

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quite entertaining mystery.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read recently by Linda Berry. I'm enjoying the characters as well as the excellent plotting.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot. I'm starting to like the characters.

[Gloria Mccracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of those nice goofy mysteries set in a mythical southern small town. Lightweight but fun.