Bill Crider, A Mammoth Murder

A Mammoth Murder

Bill Crider

Dunne, Apr 2006, $23.95

ISBN 0312323875

In Blacklin County, Texas, Bud Turley finds an enormous ancient looking tooth in a section of woods that only he and his friend Larry Colley frequent, as both insist Bigfoot lives in the area, and many residents either believe them or just fear these two crazy tough guys. Bud brings his treasure to the police station, and asks Sheriff Dan Rhodes to safely hold it until a paleontologist from the nearby community college evaluates what Turley claims is a find that proves that Bigfoot lives in the woods; Rhodes assumes the object is the remains of a prehistoric animal.

The next day Bud is found dead, with Colley screaming he was the victim of Bigfoot trying to silence him; Rhodes assumes a more human culprit killed Turley, or perhaps it was the work of feral hogs. When an elderly woman is murdered nearby, Rhodes ties that death to that of Turley and has no doubt a human is the murderer. However, his effort to determine who it is is hampered, as the crime scenes have been tampered with, by Turley and Colley telling the world they can prove Bigfoot exists, leading to Bigfoot mania from people coming to Blacklin Country from around the country and a few other spots.

Few authors, if any, can combine humor with a strong police investigation better than Bill Crider does. In Rhodes' thirteenth appearance, he serves as the serious element working on a murder case, while a horde of eccentric outsiders are drawn to the area because of the alleged Bigfoot tooth finding, and devastate the crime scene. As Rhodes ponders why him instead of the glamorous TV CSI dudes, A MAMMOTH MURDER is Mr. Crider at his best, with a superb, often humorous police procedural.