Dead, to Begin With (Thorndike Press Large Print Mystery Series)

Sheriff Dan Rhodes is back again in Bill Crider's thrilling Dead, to Begin With.

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 is the Anthony Award-winning author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries (Red, White, and Blue Murder) and the Professor Sally Good Mysteries (A Knife in the Back). His short story "Cranked," which appeared in Damn Near Dead, was a finalist for an Edgar Award. Crider served for many years as chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College. He lives in Texas.