The Edge of the Crazies

I first found this series in the library and I have since bought them all so I could introduce the books to friends. Literate and funny, the characters are both eccentric and believable. This is the first book of the series and a worthy read. Trouble is, you may be completely consumed with them until you've read them all. The series captures all of the nuances and eccentricities (good and bad) of small town life in general and Montana in particular. Unfortunately, I think the author has abandoned the characters and series, but I hope she returns to it at some point in the future. Until she does, enjoy them all (I think there are five books in the series).

Jamie Harrison writes more into the first 80 pages than most authors put into an entire book. Characters, scenery, emotions, undercurrents and tensions between characters, they are all there. In a world of a lot of ho-hum writing, Harrison really stands out head and shoulders above the rest! I am reading her second book in the series, GOING LOCAL, right now, and it's another excellent book proving that the first was no fluke. For a book like this, I wish the ratings included more stars. It's just that good! Get it, read it, and put it on your keeper shelf. I'll be reading this series more than once!

For those of us whose every day is off-kilter, Jamie Harrison has created the ideal town with the perfect sheriff: Jules Clement, Ph.D., of Blue Deer, Montana. Home after a decade of archeological exploration, Jules finds that the duties of a small-town sheriff are more dangerous than excavating in Tunisia or Turkey, because in Montana he has to cope with sibling rivalry, nouveau riche newcomers, duck killers, naked men peeing in the town park, and memories of his father's murder twenty years earlier. Walking on the wild side has never been better.

Funny, tough, startling, believable -- the characters and the setting are likeable, the plot is accessible, and Ms. Harrison writes very well. It's much too much fun to discover Jules Clement on your own to tell you more, and the book is well worth reading. This is a mystery to treasure.