Sheriff Dan Rhodes is back again in Bill Crider's thrilling Dead, to Begin With.
"Readers will cheer Rhodes along as he sorts through a tangle of old secrets and personal relationships en route to the satisfying solution." Publishers Weekly
In Clearview, Texas, a wealthy recluse has joined the community and is leading the restoration of an old opera house. When he falls to his death, Sheriff Dan Rhodes suspects that he’s been murdered, but there doesn’t seem to be a motive. Who would want to kill someone who’s helping the town and hasn’t been around long enough to make any enemies?
The Sheriff’s suspicion proves to be true, however, and he begins to look for motives buried in the past, meanwhile having to deal with people fighting over baseball cards at a yard sale, writers who want to talk to him about his sex life, and the Clearview Ghost Hunters, headed up by Seepy Benton, who believes that the old theater is haunted. Clearview might be a small town, but there’s no shortage of excitement.
Bill Crider was the winner of two Anthony Awards and an Edgar Award finalist. An English college professor for many years, he published more than seventy-five mystery, crime, Western, horror, and children’s novels, including standalone novels and several series (Sheriff Dan Rhodes, Professor Carl Burns, Professor Sally Good, PI Truman Smith, weatherman Stanley Waters, and teenager Mike Gonzo). In 2010, he was inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame.