Quickly Finished: "Murder in Four Parts" by Bill Crider

Quickly Finished: Murder in Four Parts by Bill Crider, 2009, 9780312386740.

All the Sheriff Dan Rhodes novels are good but this was better than average. Which means that this one was better than better. Rhodes is a neat character. As I said in a Library video, Rhodes does not suffer fools gladly, but he does suffer them tolerantly. This one has plenty of grouches and slouches for Rhodes to negotiate.

Rhodes gets called out about a rogue alligator call in rural Blacklin County. Then he gets a call to a murder scene. A local florist had his head bashed in. Rhodes is an even tempered and inherently kind guy but murder gets him angry. He investigates, mediates and cogitates until he figures it out.

Crider does such a dang good job at plotting. His keeps his stories moving along little to no cop lingo, car lingo, gun lingo, technological (computers, GPS) lingo and other "stuff". He also keeps me guessing on the killer's identity. Multiple characters are introduced and intertwined and Crider's plots always work for me. What can I say? I'm a suck-up.

Gratuitous References To: Joe R Lansdale, rogue alligator, Lake Placid, self-quoting on "take it or leave it" of the internet, pulp paperback love, nostalgia, possible reference to a Bill Crider pseudonym - but I won't bother to try and look it up, Kingston Trio reference, eBay love,
and local history, afternoon matinees on tv.