Rusty Puppy: 10 (Hap and Leonard, 10) by Lansdale, Joe R. | Paperback | Fiction

Hap and Leonard investigate a racially motivated murder that threatens to tear apart their East Texas town.

While Hap, a former 60s activist and self-proclaimed white trash rebel, is recovering from a life-threatening stab wound, Louise Elton comes into Hap and Leonard's PI office to tell him that the police have killed her son, Jamar.

Months earlier, a bully cop pulled over and sexually harassed Jamar's sister, Charm. The officer followed Charm over the course of the next couple of months, leading Jamar to videotape and take notes on the cop and his partner. The next thing Louise hears, Jamar got in a fight and is killed in the projects by local hoods. It doesn't add up: he was a straight A student, destined for better things, until he began to ask too many questions about the racist police force.

Leonard, a tough black gay Vietnam vet and Republican, joins Hap in the investigation, and they stumble upon the racial divides that have shaped their Eastern Texas town. But if anyone can navigate these pitfalls and bring the killers to justice, it's Hap and Leonard.

Filled with Lansdale's trademark whip-smart dialogue, colorful characters, and relentless pacing, Rusty Puppy is Joe Lansdale at his page-turning best. **

Review

The Texan equivalent to our own Christopher Brookmyre...A rollicking pulp thriller, with a surprisingly warm and empathetic core. * Glasgow Herald * Another rip-roaring, wisecracking, savagely violent story...Gloriously bloody fun * Metro * A unique mix of sly humor and horrific violence. Readers will laugh at some particularly profane smart-ass repartee and then want to cover their eyes a couple sentences later as the violence explodes. Another fine entry in a great series * Booklist * Dialogue worthy of Elmore Leonard, memorable characters and explosive action * Crime Scene Magazine * Praise for the Hap and Leonard books * . * Lansdale spins a wild, rollicking yarn, but behind all the mayhem is a heartfelt tale about friendship, brotherhood, loyalty, and family. Hap and Leonard are complicated, violent men, but they display a basic humanity and decency that carries this remarkable series along. * Publishers Weekly starred review * Joe R. Lansdale has a wicked way with words...One almost feels guilty enjoying [Hap and Leonard's] raw, rollicking adventures. But Lansdale has a way of winning readers over with his deceptively elegant brand of 'redneck noir'. * Fort Worth Star-Telegram * Praise for Rusty Puppy * - *

About the Author

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Sunset and Sawdust, Rumble Tumble and The Bottoms. He has received the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Edgar Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, and seven Bram Stoker Awards. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas. Visit his website at www.joerlansdale.com, follow him on Twitter @joelansdale or find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JoeRLansdale.