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Lone Star Sleuths, An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction [Anthology] PDF

283 Pages·2016·1.54 MB·English
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lone star sleuths ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb ii 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM Southwes tern Writers Collect ion Series Connie Todd, Editor Th e Southwestern Writers Collection Series originates from the Southwestern Writers Collection, an archive and literary center established at Texas State University–San Marcos to celebrate the region’s writers and literary heritage. ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb iiii 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM Lone Star Sleu ths an anthology of texas crime fiction Edited and with an Introduction by Bill Cunningham, Steven L. Davis, and Rollo K. Newsom ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb iiiiii 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM Copyright © 2007 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2007 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html ∞ Th e paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lone Star sleuths : an anthology of Texas crime fi ction / edited and with an introduction by Bill Cunningham, Steven L. Davis, and Rollo K. Newsom. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Southwestern Writers Collection series) ISBN 978-0-292-71737-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Short stories, American—Texas. 2. Texas—Social life and customs— Fiction. I. Cunningham, Bill, 1949– II. Davis, Steven L. III. Newsom, Rollo K. (Rollo Kern), 1937– PS558.T4L667 2007 813'.01089764 —dc22 2007005813 ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb iivv 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM For Nevin Cunningham and Drew Cunningham; for Joe Davis and Mary Comparetto; for Sylvia C. Newsom ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb vv 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents Introduction ix Part 1: El Paso and West Texas 1 Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat 2 Jim Sanderson, El Camino del Rio 9 Nancy Herndon, Time Bombs 17 James Crumley, Bordersnakes 22 Allana Martin, Death of a Healing Woman 33 Jim Th ompson, Th e Killer Inside Me 39 Part 2: Austin and the Hill Country 49 Steven Saylor, A Twist at the End 50 Jesse Sublett, Rock Critic Murders 56 Ben Rehder, Buck Fever 67 Susan Wittig Albert, Rosemary Remembered 77 Kinky Friedman, Armadillos and Old Lace 85 Part 3: Houston and the Gulf Coast 95 David L. Lindsey, Heat from Another Sun 96 Neal Barrett, Jr., Interstate Dreams 104 Ken Grissom, Drowned Man’s Key 112 Gaylord Dold, Bay of Sorrows 117 Part 4: Dallas, Fort Worth, and the Panhandle 129 Doug J. Swanson, Umbrella Man 130 A. W. Gray, Prime Suspect 138 D. R. Meredith, Th e Sheriff and the Panhandle Murders 147 vii ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb vviiii 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM Part 5: East Texas 157 Joe R. Lansdale, Th e Two-Bear Mambo 158 Walter Mosley, Gone Fishin’ 169 Susan Rogers Cooper, Funny as a Dead Relative 176 Part 6: San Antonio and South Texas 183 Carolyn Hart, Death on the River Walk 184 Rick Riordan, Th e Last King of Texas 189 J. S. Borthwick, Th e Case of the Hook-billed Kites 198 Rolando Hinojosa, Partners in Crime 203 Part 7: Small Town Texas 211 Bill Crider, Winning Can Be Murder 212 Paula Boyd, Hot Enough to Kill 219 Jeff Abbott, Do Unto Others 231 Clay Reynolds, Agatite 240 Part 8: End of the Road 249 Mary Willis Walker, Th e Red Scream 250 Permissions Acknowledgments 263 viii Lone Star Sleuths ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb vviiiiii 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0044 PPMM Introduction Once upon a time, literary murders were largely relegated to British draw- ing rooms and California’s mean streets. Hard-boiled heroes in Dashiell Hammett’s San Francisco and Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles personi- fi ed American noir, while British “cozies” circulated around the elaborate plots woven by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. On both sides of the Atlantic, a distinct sense of place has long been one of the chief pleasures of the genre. Yet only in recent years have mys- teries expanded to include America’s regional cultures, and now millions of readers are familiar with Tony Hillerman’s Navajo country, James Lee Burke’s New Orleans, and Carl Hiaasen’s Florida. Texas has always staked a large claim on the nation’s imagination and its mystery literature is no exception. Hundreds of crime novels are set with- in the state, most of which have been published in the last twenty years. From the highest point atop the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas to the Piney Woods of East Texas, from the High Plains of the Panhandle to the subtropical climate of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, mystery writers have covered every aspect of Texas’s extraordinarily diverse geography. Th e titles associated with Texas mysteries showcase many native ele- ments: Armadillos and Old Lace, Mucho Mojo, Bad Chili, Chile Death, Bor- dersnakes, Diamondback, Hot Enough to Kill, Texas Wind, Th e Mexican Tree Duck, Th e Sheriff and the Branding Iron Murders, Death on the River Walk, Houston in the Rearview Mirror, and Deliver Me from Dallas. Even Texas’s greatest real-life murder mystery—the assassination of John F. Kennedy—is addressed in several novels, one of which resuscitates Sher- lock Holmes and brings him to Dallas in order to solve the case. Th e typical protagonist in a Texas mystery novel was once easy to de- fi ne—a wisecracking, improbably macho male. Th e wisecracks have re- mained, but a profound transformation has taken place in recent years. Texas women, long consigned to stereotypical supporting roles, have come on strong, infusing the genre with a new energy. Women detectives usu- ally aren’t as hard-boiled as their male counterparts, but they are plenty ix ccuunnnniinngghhaammbbooookk..iinnddbb iixx 88//77//0077 1122::5588::0055 PPMM

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