Too Late to Die

New York: Walker & Company, 1986. E1 - An ex-library 2nd printing hardcover book in fair condition in fair dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has taped label on the spine, some scattered light scratches, rubbing and stains, inside flaps taped to the fixed endpapers, tanning and light shelf wear. Book has library markings (labels, stamping, cardholder, etc.), cocked, some bumped corners and cover edgewear, scattered light foxing, stains, crease and wrinkling, scattered soiled patches, light tanning and shelf wear. A Walker Mystery. Winner of the 1987 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. 8.5"x5.75", 183 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. A couple of cartons of cigarettes, a few beers, and a Moon Pie stolen from the rural grocery. A barroom fight. Adultery in the public park. Ducks loose in a neighbor's garden. That's the kind of crime that usually occupies the sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas. So no matter how well Dan Rhodes does his job, his hopes for reelection - especially against a flamboyant opponent - are only modest. Which is too bad for Blacklin County; Dan Rhodes is a good lawman and a good human being, and his work, since his beloved Claire died, is the center of his life. That and his daughter Kathy, whose romance with his quick-tempered deputy, Johnny Sherman, makes Dan a little uneasy. Or is he just being a possessive father? Murder changes the situation - although it hardly improves Dan's chances for reelection, and could make them worse. For this murder is not a domestic quarrel that erupts into gunfire, or a simple robbery that turns into unexpected homicide. It's the brutal death of an attractive young housewife, recently married to an older man. And as Dan seeks the killer of Jeanne Clinton, he begins to uncover more hidden activities in Thurston (population 408) than he had thought the small community could contain. Nobody denies that, when younger and single, Jeanne Clinton had been a bit wild; after all, she'd won the wet T-shirt contest at the Paragon, hadn't she? But marriage brought respectability. It also brought, Dan soon discovers, a host of male visitors who were in the habit of dropping by while Elmer Clinton worked the night shift - "just to talk." Apparently Jeanne was a wonderful listener. And that makes for a number of suspects. In addition, there's Billy Joe Byron, not quite right in the head, but whose only known transgressions had been bouts of peaceful Peeping Tomism. Dan, although convinced that Billy Joe is harmless, wonders why the simple man seems suddenly to fear him. The atmosphere of these small Texas towns is extraordinarily vividly evoked; the population there both real and colorful. In Dan Rhodes himself we get a warm, well-rounded picture of a man more complex than he first appears to be, a man coping well with doubts, disappointments, and the occasional small triumph.. 2nd Printing. Hardcover. Fair/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Ex-Library.