Dead Dog Blues - Hardcover

Barrett, Neal, Jr.

3.92

52 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312109636 ISBN 13: 9780312109639

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1994

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Nothing ever happens in Pharaoh, Texas....
Drunks and missing auto parts headline the local crime wave until a barking dead dog shows up in millionaire Max Coomer's backyard. Then Coomer himself is discovered frosty cold and very dead, running for fame and glory forever down the gridiron at Pharaoh High.
That's just the beginning of the mayhem that erupts in a sleepy Texas town - and the start of temporary constable Jack Track's nightmarish pursuit of a maniac who doesn't like anyone in Pharaoh, Texas.
There are enough bizarre characters in Dead Dog Blues to convince any reader to steer clear of small towns. There's Jack's best friend, Earl Murphy, a black man who made a fortune on Wall Street and sleeps in his white Aston-Martin Lagonda by Jack's creek. There's George, the catfish mogul, and cheery funeral director Eddie Trost - plus an ever-growing cast of the local missing and dead.
Jack is content with lovely Cecily Benet, the frozen-yogurt queen, until Max Coomer's widow, Millie Jean, decides to fan the flames of her high-school romance with Jack - an affair that turns into double trouble when Millie's jailbait daughter, Smoothy, takes a run at Jack herself.
Author Neal Barrett, Jr., showed us he knows how to stir up an exciting blend of humor and suspense in his first mystery, Pink Vodka Blues (SMP, 1992). With Dead Dog Blues, he takes his place as one of the most talented writers in the field.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Problems raised by a "dead electric dog" open Barrett's second mystery, after Pink Vodka Blues . Max Coomer, the wealthiest man in Pharoah, Tex., finds his black Lab murdered in the back yard. With its jaw wired and a Walkman tied around its neck, the dog seems to be barking in unison with the tape that's playing. Joining the motley crowd of rednecks ogling the spectacle is town marshall Jack Track, who spent 14 years of his life with another name, another home, and another profession (Wayne, Vegas and killer, respectively) before returning to his hometown. Pretty soon Coomer is as dead as his dog, dressed in a football uniform and wired to look like he did when running for touchdowns as a high school hero. Jack, the dead man and a few others, including the victim's widow and Pharoah's sheriff, Deke Glover, went to high school together. Jack tries to piece together the puzzle with the help of his girlfriend Cecily, who owns a line of yogurt shops and isn't pleased at Jack's brief tryst with Max's widow, and his best pal Earl Murphy, a rich cantankerous black man who made a fortune on Wall Street. More murders lead Jack to a lunatic's private theater as the humor, coming as fast as the instantly orgasmic widow Coomer, plays at--but doesn't quite go over--the edge.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The fate of wealthy Texas bully Max Coomer's dog--killed, mounted in a sitting position, and wired for endless tape-recorded barking--would be a lot funnier if it weren't followed by the murder-and-mounting of Max himself, his dead legs churning away in a race for long-past football glory. Temporary town marshal Jack Track, back in Pharaoh, Texas, after 14 years on the road, thinks it's funny anyway--until his own pet is killed (without sound effects). If Max's murderer doesn't get him, Jack will undoubtedly be undone either by Max's widow, Millie Jean, object of Jack's high-school lust, or Max's daughter Smoothie, already, at age 12, years smarter than the adult men she goes after. Looking past prime suspect Nate Graham, Jack finds a passel of lesser contenders, including Max's vanished cleaning lady Emma Stynnes and racist Pharaoh sheriff Deke Glover. Then there's a special agent from the governor's office who seems determined to nail Jack for whatever he was up to during 14 years of roving. Zany but inert, without the mad momentum that made Pink Vodka Blues (1992) so rollicking. But if it's picturesque loonies you're looking for, you've come to the right bin. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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