Cursed to Death

I like the Dan Rhodes series, but after all the times he is beaten up he sould learn to be a little more careful and anticipate what could happen!

Winter is closing on Blacklin County, Texas and Christmas isn't far away. Things have been odd at times lately, but, for Sheriff Dan Rhodes this is a first. One of the local dentists, Dr. Samuel Martin, has a complaint and he is sure that there has to be a law. Dr. Martin simply can't have people barging in while he is with a patient and placing a curse on him. The curse placed on Dr. Martin was along the lines that he should get sick, lose all his money, and have all his teeth fall out. Kind of creative and amusing and as Rhodes digs deeper, he soon finds out there is a lot of heated back story involved. Betsy Higgins, who claims to be a witch, had justification for her actions at least somewhat. After all, Dr. Martin swiped the new stereo console TV from Betsy Higgins and her boyfriend because they hadn't paid the rent. While Dr. Martin might be a very good dentist, he isn't very good at being a landlord. Things aren't always fixed like they should be and when folks get behind he either lets it slide or becomes verbally abusive and threatening towards them. With his owning several rental properties, word has gotten around the small town of Clearview as well as the county just what kind of landlord he is. Being cursed made him give up the stereo console television mighty quick, but he still is very annoyed and wants something done about it. Rhodes negotiates a bit between the dentist/landlord and the tenants and thinks he has things solved. Shortly thereafter Dr. Martin vanishes, there is an uprising at the local nursing home by the elderly residents, and Rhodes still has to figure out what his unofficial engagement means. With all that going on and other stuff, it is supposed to be understandable why he occasionally investigates situations without backup and frequently loses his grip on situations as well as his pistol. That flaw becomes a bit mildly annoying at times as Rhodes frequently walks alone into situations that he should, just based on what has happened in the series, let alone his long law enforcement career, should know better. Yes, it is a small police force and yes, others in his small department are frequently engaged in other duties. Still, the reader knows that when he walks into these situations, he is going to lose his weapon before he gets a chance to use it, take another good old fashioned beating, and probably lose consciousness again in the process. Third in the series, this novel continues in the same comfortable folksy style of the earlier novels. There is no real additional character depth developed here. Sheriff Rhodes is still trying to figure out the meaning of his engagement to Ivy and at the same time, is trying to figure out what to buy her for Christmas. Those storylines are secondary but also easily feed into the main focus of this novel. The main focus being a tale about folks living their lives the best they can day to day, dealing with issues and problems we all deal with, while a murder lurks in thei

Dan Rhodes likes a select few things in life: drinking Dr Pepper out of an icy glass bottle, watching old black and white movies during his lunch hour, "keeping company" with his lady friend Ivy Daniel, and maintaining a peaceful community in Blacklin County, Texas. Since he's the sheriff, that last part is also his job, and he takes it quite seriously. So when a witch places a public curse on a local dentist / landlord, and the target of that curse disappears without much of a trace, Rhodes does as much investigating as he can, with what little he has to go on. Then the dentist's wife is murdered, and the investigation is taken up a notch. The most likely suspects are the four tenants who rent from the dentist -- including the witch, who turns out not to be a witch at all. And all of this action happens just before Christmas, when folks are scurrying around putting up trees and buying presents for each other. That sight gives Rhodes pause, as this is his first Christmas to celebrate with Ivy, and he hasn't yet gotten to the store himself. Will he figure everything out in time? Crider continues this mystery saga well, though this particular title isn't the strongest of the series. Fans will enjoy the ever-playful conversations Rhodes has with Hack and Lawton at the jail. Vivid descriptions allow us to easily visualize scenes for ourselves -- even the bloody skirmishes Rhodes always manages to get himself into.