Easy Pickin's

"Bless their hearts!" The cast from Fred's first "mystery" novel is back, "as excited as coondogs that've run an armadillo into a hole" - this time flying between Depression-era Western Oklahoma and Mexico. The ambiance and Okie-isms are accurate and it is a fine trip. I really don't remember when Oklahoma car tags numerically denominated the county of issuance (as Iowa later and longer did) e.g. Oklahoma County as County #1 and Polk County as County #77. But I do have the now archaic trivia clogging my head of the two letter identifiers - greetings to all the folk out in Clinton and Weatherford! a/k/a CU (Custer County.) The mystery isn't really a mystery, but it is a fun trip down Memory Lane.

This was my first time reading any work by Fred Harris, but I'm sure that it will not be my last time. I enjoyed the down to earth language and depiction of the characters. Having grownup in rural America, I found it easy to identify with the story line. Harris did a great job with details, which tended to lend a real sense of being there to the story. Although the book seemed a little slow in the beginning, it wasn't long before I reached the point of not wanting to put it down. Harris does a good job of keeping one's attention, but the ending was almost predictable. Overall, a very enjoyable book. Now that I've discovered Fred Harris, I can't wait to read his other fictional works.

Good news! The sequel to Fred Harris' highly acclaimed, award winning first novel, Coyote Revenge, is just now being released to booksellers and it is a keeper. For those readers familiar with Harris' first book you will be delighted to know that "Okie" Dunnis back along with a host of colorful characters straight out of southwestern Oklahoma. If you missed the first novel, and want to read something by a lively storyteller that includes characters you will swear you have met, this is the book for you. The protagonist from the first book, "Okie" Dunn, is back as the sheriff of Vernon, OK. He is joined by his Chief Deputy, Stud Wampler, who was a long-time friend of Dunn's father and "as loyal and good-hearted as a brother" and Crystal Boucher, the first female deputy in Oklahoma, who "had a good brain and a notably compassionate heart." When you mix these characters with a slovenly bounty hunter and a beautiful redheaded lawyer, both from Oklahoma City, with a slick character named Carter from Dallas, or was it Castor from Mexico?, all looking for the sweet and innocent schoolteacher named Janeaster Parnell, you have a great story. Oh, did I mention the body that dropped out of the sky; the attack on Dunn; the trip to Veracruz; the abortion; the sexual encounter between Dunn and the lawyer; and...? This is Fred Harris at his best. While his first novel was good this one is better, much better. Harris has the unique ability to combine colorful, believable characters with a realistic dialogue and description of events that will, if you are not careful, make you swear you either know one of the characters or have been in the physical location he describes. You will not find characters here that leap tall buildings in a single bound. Most of us don't know many characters like that. These are folks that lived through the depression and struggle daily to survive and help each other. They save string and bailing wire because you never know when you will need it and they sometimes take a shot of home brew, for medicinal purposes don't you know. Harris' work is also unique and special in that he can write on such diverse, and potentially divisive, subjects as abortion; murder; sex; humor; and a variety of other topics, all in one book, in a manner that make the book suitable for virtually all age groups. He is able to tell a story with humor, suspense, tragedy, decency and tenderness that is as authentic as it is moving. Teenagers to senior citizens will like this book. If you are looking for a good mystery story with the added bonus of an accurate description of the life and times in rural Oklahoma during the depression, this is for you. As some would say about native Oklahoman Fred Harris, "He done good."