Flat Crazy

This is a great light fun read. If you loved and have read all this series also check out the author C.J. Box and his Joe Pickett adventures which also follow a game warden based near a hunting culture small town filled with eccentric red necks, corrupt officials and other fun characters, his books are set in Wyoming. Open Seasonis the first novel in that great series, check it out! Back to this series, it is important to note that you do not need to have read the first novel in the series Buck Fever or the second Bone Dry to enjoy or get the most out of this novel, which is the third in the series. Other than a reoccurring main character, game warden John Marlin, as well as other eccentric county residents who appear in each novel such as local redneck Billy Don and his friend Red, this series of fun adventures set in Blanco County Texas can be read in any order. In Flat Crazy, Billy and Red are offered a lot of money to tear down and rebuild the stone entrance to the ranch of Owen Pierce who also owns the chain of most popular BBQ joints in Texas, as his wife thought it wasn't quite up to par for those attending a party at the ranch in a few days. To save money and maximise profit Red decides to hire to do all the hard work, one of the illegal immigrants who always hang out on a well know corner looking for work to feed their families back home. Problem is the Mexican selected named Jorge, is a bit too hung over and what he ate on his binge the night before is also catching up with him. When Jorge runs off into the woods at the site to empty himself Red isn't too impressed. When he runs back out at a sprint screaming his head off and is hit by a truck, Red can see his easy money going down the drain. Jorge tells the police that he witnessed a Chupacabra (a mythical beast part reptile with the head of a lion and face of the devil) ripping apart a goat. Since this creature is believed in by those from Central and South American cultures who make up quite a bit of the population so John Marlin is sent to investigate. It's not long before hunters from all over Texas and elsewhere are coming to Blanco County to shoot the Chupacabra, the situation flamed by the discovery of a hunter's body with neck wounds that resemble those told in the Chupacabra legend which are left by its fangs. Of course local low life Duke Waldrip and guide for rich idiots who want to come and shoot something big knows the Chupacabra didn't kill the hunter but is happy to let it take the blame. Throw in the midget Chinese adult film industry which is taking off in that part of Texas, a young boy who doesn't want to see the Chupacabra shot, a hot disillusioned with her industry female reporter sent to cover the story and you've got another great Rehder tale.

Ben Rehder brings us back to Blanco County, Texas in this third book featuring Texas F & W Game Warden John Marlin in a fun and fast paced romp through deer country. This time we run afoul of fake trophy deer mounts, exotic animal hunting, the chupacabra, tabloid tv reporters, deaths by screwdrivers & toasters, Chinese midget porn, and our favorite redneck poachers-come-heroes Red Obrien and Billy Don Craddock. Rehder continues to put forth enjoyable comic mysteries based in his fictional Blanco County. His witty writing and quick pace takes the readers through a speedy jaunt in the back country via a variety of interesting characters. Just when you begin to wonder why one of the side stories is even in the book, it all falls into place and ties it all together. Always a pleasure to read Rehder's books and hopefully we've still got an abundance yet to come.

More whacky characters and bizarre circumstances in Blanco County Texas. These books are great fun to read.

Comic crime novels are one of my delights. I look forward the latest goofiness from Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen with great excitement. You can imagine my joy when I found that I could add Ben Rehder ad his Blanco County mysteries to my must-read list for guffaws and laugh-until-I-cry amusement. Flat Crazy combines an authentic Texas country voice with great satires of the local doings. Mr. Rehder has a powerful and original imagination for characters and plots that employs an intense wackiness that is just irresistible. Some of the many satirical targets in this book include the superstitious, exotic game trophy hunters, hunting guides, pornographic entrepreneurs and actors, television news producers, and the idle rich. When one of these targets isn't cracking you up, another one is. The plot is also quite delightful. It's not easy tying all of those elements together into something resembling a crime and detection story. The story begins simply enough. A day-laborer needs to find a bush quickly in order to relieve himself. What he finds there launches a county-wide search for a mythical beast. Everyone has an angle, each one crazier than the next. Elsewhere, a scamming hunting guide gets caught by his customer . . . and finds himself facing the wrong end of a revolver. A little accident makes matters worse. And so the fun begins!

Blanco County, Texas has had it shares of BUCK FEVER and BONE DRY lunacy as game warden John Marlin can testify, but the latest craziness makes Texas tall tales seem small. The locals believe that the vampiric chupacabra has killed an outsider due to a fang bite wound in his neck. John assumes a human killer committed the homicide and plans to prove that before hysteria turns everyone FLAT CRAZY. The chupacabra tale leads the tabloid reporters to overrun Blanco County and interfere with John's inquiries because a fang related unsolved killing makes provocative headlines through innuendos. Seeing an opportunity to get rich, good ole boys Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock take advantage of the local fears, but wind up only messing up the investigative trail that John tracks involving phony buck trophies. Adding to the confusion is the invasion of the Chinese dwarfs from Hollywood as Wang, Hung, Lo, etc. are making a film and wrecking clues. To John, all this is another "normal" investigation unlike those CSI types working pristine crime shows. This third wacky Blanco County mystery is as crazy and fun as its predecessors are (kind of like moving those Southern Florida wild tales to Texas). Once again John plays straight man to a cast of eccentrics and wacko opportunists, who are over the edge into slapstick at times. Though readers know who the killer is and why from almost the start, the fun is observing John work through the lunacy, trampled evidence, and the unintended red herrings caused by nutty secondary characters to try to solve the case. Ben Rehder continues to display a unique freshness with his marvelous mirthful Marlin mysteries. Harriet Klausner