Bone Dry: A Blanco County, Texas, Novel

If you are from or are familiar with this area of the Texas Hill Country, all the details ring true. If you are a long time fan of Ben Rehder's then you will love this one. The man can't write a bad book!

I listened to the audio edition of this book and my comments pertain to that edition. I read the first book in Rehder's Blanco County series last year and enjoyed it. When I got the chance to listen to the second on audio, I jumped at it. If possible, I liked the second even more than the first. If you love the zany Floridian adventures of authors like Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen, you will probably want to take a side trip to Blanco County. As those authors do, Rehder throws a bunch of semi-competent crooked folks (in this case including a Mafia family in hiding), a few well meaning folks (this time around it's a couple of tree-huggin' types trying to save a rare bird from all the brush clearing going on) and in the middle of it, a bemused decent good guy trying to sort out all the events. The center of the Blanco County novels is game warden John Marlin, who does his best to stay sane and sort out the string of bizarre events. He has his hands full in this second book, as some bodies turn up, others go missing, and that's in between the eco-terrorism, county jail hostage stand-off, Marlin's personal life going to hell, and oh, yeah, opening week of hunting season. Rehder does a fine job of juggling multiple plot lines and a huge cast of supporting characters while keeping all the threads moving toward a neatly wrapped up conclusion. I could often see where the plot was going a few chapters ahead of time but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride nevertheless. The unabridged audiobook is competently read (I'm sorry I don't have the name of the narrator). While nothing was particularly gained or lost by listening to the book rather than reading it, I didn't have to put the book down to do chores like washing dishes--as long as you aren't listening in places where people will give you strange looks if you occasionally laugh out loud while listening. I recommend this book and the whole Blanco County series to anyone who likes a light, funny mystery, particularly fans of the Carl Hiaasen style.

If you enjoyed the outrageous humor in Buck Fever about cross-species sexuality and good old boys poaching deer, you will be thrilled with Bone Dry. The talented Mr. Rehder has added more targets for his humor, made them funnier and further developed the excellent goofballs, Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock. In Bone Dry, you will find Italian mobsters mixing it up with the local Texas drunks, a supermodel who uses her looks and her scent to save endangered species, lots of brush-busting and scams galore. In the middle of all the resulting mayhem, John Marlin, the Lone Ranger of game wardens, finds himself running the investigation into a hunter's suspicious death. The book combines a satire of the Godfather, a Carl Hiaasen-type story about Texas, an excellent police procedural, lots of environmental lessons and a love story with enough irony to keep your eyes blinking with surprise for days. It's a remarkable, guffaw-inducing achievement. Save this book for the next time you really need a good laugh. I recommend that you also go on to read the latest book in the series, Flat Crazy, which is even better than Bone Dry.

Murder and mayhem in the Hill Country? A comedy mystery a hunter could love? A compelling read you'll want to finish in one sitting? "Bone Dry," Ben Rehder's latest novel answers: Yes, yes, and yes. Witness protection program member Sal Mameli, has been relocated to Blanco County in hopes of avoiding his old "associates." Learning there's big money in cedar clearing, he quickly succumbs to old criminal tendencies. Only this time, Game Warden John Marlin is there to see things don't get out of hand. Enter a six-foot blonde bombshell activist, bent on saving the Red-necked Sapsucker -- an endangered bird dependent on cedar, and the action begins. While Marlin tries to keep the peace, the murders pile up.I dove into Bone Dry not knowing what to expect, and surfaced pleasantly surprised. The 339 page yarn grabs and holds your attention, reads quickly, and keeps you laughing -- making it hard to come up for air. Rehder does a good job weaving several action-packed sub-plots into one good story, while avoiding superfluous detail."Bone Dry" is Rehder's second mystery novel. His first, "Buck Fever," was nominated for the prestigious Edgar, the murder-mystery writer's Oscar.An avid hunter from childhood and advertising copywriter for twenty years, Rehder is relatively new to story telling."I wrote my first book at 37. I'd always wanted to write a novel, but on what? I was told, write what you know. Well, I know deer hunting and I know the Hill Country, so my choices were obvious." Asked about advice for aspiring writers, he urges: "Go for it! You'll never know unless you give it a stab. I'm glad I did. I only regret it wasn't sooner."Rehder pens his tales from a small hilltop cabin in Blanco County. When not writing, he's hunting. "I'll hunt 3-4 days a week during deer season," says Rehder. "Bow and rifle seasons combined, I'm almost burned out by the time it's all over." Let's hope Rehder doesn't get burned out - on hunting or writing. We'll be worse off if he does.To any Texan who's picked up a deer rifle - pick up Bone Dry. But be warned, you'll have trouble putting it down.