Code Sixty-One

Having lived in the most liberal city in Iowa for close to ten years, this would seem like satire if the characters weren't just like people I'd met. If you can imagine Grant Wood meets "The Osbournes" with a healthy dash Joe Friday and Charles Manson, you'll get a good idea of what Carl Houseman's world is like.Some mystery stories are good. Reading a nice Agatha Christie you sort of puzzle your way through and get to the end and feel, "well that was very nicely done." Reading a nice Harstad is more like watching the Munsters move to middle America.It's funny and short enough to read in a day or three. It won't make you rethink your life, but it might make you rethink the idea that small towns are boring little places where nothing ever happens.

Nothing in this book is phony. Donald Harstad is a true Iowa original and a darned good writer.

I'm not a usual mystery reader -- but as a librarian in a small town in Northeast Iowa I read his books to expand my horizons and invited him to speak at our library. Harstad won me over. Something the other reviewers didn't mention is his humor -- and the quirky personality in his stories. He represents our corner of Iowa in a way I haven't seen before (although the cases have been fictionalized they are taken from parts of incidents in his career and the atmosphere darkened -- he shows our part of the world to be surrounded by bluffs along the river and full of scrappy, hard-working and intelligent people ... and some strange people as well) People who visit are surprised how beautiful it is here (not at all what they expect from Iowa). Harstad lives here, worked here for over 20 years in the police department -- and when he writes about our landscape and our people he knows what he's talking about. Of course -- a novel focuses on the unusual (so don't think we're vampires) By the way -- the house in Code Sixty-One really exists and is only a block away from me. Sny Magill is a real place too. Enjoyable, personable mystery.

I admit it, I am hooked on Deputy Carl Houseman and his colleagues in rural Iowa law enforcement. I normally don't read books dealing with the supernatural but couldn't put Code 61 down. The author's attention to detail makes the reader feel like he is part of the investigative team.Deputy Houseman is my favorite fictional lawman. His insight and witty comments at the appropriate times holds the readers interest. Anyone who has not read the entire series is missing some good reading. I am looking forward to Harstad's next publication.

A step back from the big fireworks of secret government operations and terrorist plots of his last two books, Code Sixty-One still manages to rivet attention. Fans of crime scene investigation and suspect interrogation should love this story, as Senior Deputy Carl Houseman and his colleagues methodically investigate a nest of slacker vampires along the banks of the Mississippi.Perhaps my favorite aspect of these novels is the fact that Houseman's personal life--aside from his diet--mostly remains personal. Harstad, while acknowledging the strain that police work puts on Houseman's marriage, saves the bulk of his words for the investigation of the crime and pursuit of the criminals.Well-written and with enough thrills to keep from becoming a plodding recitation of a police training manual case study, Code Sixty-One is well worth a read.