Bill Crider and Sheriff Dan Rhodes - Two of the best guys in the mystery world

Bill Crider (that’s me) was born in Mexia, Texas.  So were Les Baxter, Fred “Firpo” Marberry, and Don the Beachcomber.  Anna Nicole Smith was not.  You could look it up.  I went to school for a long time and eventually got a PhD.  The title of my dissertation was The Private-Eye Hero, which tells you something about my interests.  After getting my degree, I taught school and wrote books.  I’ve retired from teaching, but I’m still writing books, which is why I’m here on the blog today.  I’m married to the lovely Judy, and we have two grown offspring, Allen, who lives in Austin where he’s a recording engineer.  He also does sound for (and occasionally plays guitar in) the Cornell Hurd Band. Angela’s in San Francisco, where she’s an immigration attorney for Homeland Security.

My new book is Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen, and if I’m counting correctly, it’s the nineteenth book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series.  Just to prove that I’m a “hip” and “with it” kind of a guy, this one has a book trailer, which you can see at this URL if you’re so inclined: http://goo.gl/yoTnh.  St. Martin’s has been doing some quite nice covers for me in the last few years, and this one for Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen no exception, as you can see in the video.  Or if you don’t care for trailers, you can see the cover at the book’s Amazon page (http://goo.gl/qKTJG).  Not that I’m asking you to order it or anything.  You can get it at many fine independent bookstores, too.

Okay, now that the shameless commerce department is closed, I’ll tell you a little bit about the book.  If you’ve read the other eighteen books in the series (as surely you have), you know that living in Blacklin County, Texas, can be pretty dangerous, especially in the county seat, Clearview.  They seem to be averaging a murder or two a year there, and this time the victim is a young woman who works in The Beauty Shack. There have been a few suspicious characters seen hanging around in the abandoned building across the street, and that’s the first place Sheriff Rhodes checks.  Sure enough, he runs into trouble, and this leads to some other problems in the little town, which has been experiencing a lot of thefts of copper and aluminum.  And car batteries.  As usual, aspiring amateur sleuth Seepy Benton wants in on the action.

It turns out that the murder victim had an active social life, including close friendships with a number of prominent citizens in the town.  They are not happy to have their privacy invaded by the investigation, and they want the murder solved immediately.  They also don’t want their involvement to be known.  Those things aren’t as easy to achieve as they’d like them to be, of course, and Rhodes is also dealing with other little things, including drivers who think the sheriff’s job includes changing flat tires for them.  There’s never a dull moment in Blacklin County.

To find out if the sheriff changes the tire, and to listen in on some of his conversations with the usual crew at the jail, you’ll have to read the book.  I’m hoping this will be the one that puts me on the NYTBR bestseller list, makes Sheriff Rhodes as famous as Jack Reacher, and gets me a big movie deal, though there’s not much chance of that.  The sheriff gets beaten up a lot more than Reacher does, and so far Tom Cruise hasn’t come calling about playing Rhodes.  All the actors I’d originally hoped might one day play Rhodes in a movie have gotten a bit old for the part by now.  They’ve aged, but Rhodes hasn’t.  Well, not as much as they have, at least.  He’s lucky that way.  But I digress.  You should buy the book, make me rich, and help me and the sheriff start living in the style to which we’d like to become accustomed.  As always, we thank you for your support.

 

Thanks, too, to the gracious Kaye Barley for giving me this opportunity to say a few words about my new book. It’s always a privilege and a pleasure to visit Meanderings and Musings.

How one thing leads to another . . . . by Bill Crider

I was borned on a mountain top in Tennessee and kilt me a b’ar when I was only three! No, wait, that was Davy Crockett. Sometimes I get the two of us confused. I’ve been in a bar or two, though, and in the winter I sometimes cover up with a kilt. Or a quilt. I’m getting confused again. At any rate, I’m pretty sure I’m the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories and that I won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die. I was even nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island, and I won the coveted Golden Duck award for “best juvenile science fiction novel” for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror. My wife, Judy, and I won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for “Chocolate Moose.” My story “Cranked” from Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press) was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story. Check out my homepage at http://billcrider.com/ or take a look at my peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com/

How one thing leads to another . . .

by Bill Crider


When I was getting ready to write Murder in the Air, I started off with a title and a murder victim’s name. That was about all I had. (The title was entirely different from the one that the book has now, but that’s another story.) While I was looking for something to hang a plot on, I remembered something my brother had told me about. He still lives near our old hometown, and for years he’s been on a crusade to do something about the stench that (he claimed) is engulfing the entire county because of the proliferation of factory chicken farms. He’d written letters to the newspaper, to his state representative, to the air quality control board, and to everyone else he could think of. Nothing had been done, however. “You should write a book about it,” he told me. So I did. I made the murder victim the owner of a factory farm, and the book grew out of that.

Now anybody who’s read the Sheriff Dan Rhodes books (and if you haven’t, what’s the matter with you?) knows that they’re meant to amuse and entertain. But there’s more, I think. If you collected the reviews of them written over the years, you’d find the words “laid back” and “low key” repeated often. Because of that, people never seem to think the books have serious themes. In fact, I might be the only one who thinks they do. I’ve always thought that humorous books can be just as serious as any others, and underneath the fun in my books, I usually have something more to say. So Murder in the Air isn’t so different in that respect. And of course it’s not heavy-handed. I don’t do heavy. If you want heavy, do some reading about factory poultry farms. But not if you ever want to eat fried chicken again.

As for me, I keep things light, which, of course, explains the cast of continuing characters in the Sheriff Rhodes books, including this one.. One of those characters, Seepy Benton, is a guy I was so fond of that I moved him to Blacklin County from another series after it was canceled. I had so much fun writing about him that I couldn’t let him languish on the Island of Forgotten Characters, so the rest of the people in those books will have to survive there without him. Since Sheriff Rhodes is such a down-to-earth guy, he needs people like Seepy and Hack and Lawton around.

And speaking of the sheriff being down-to-earth, in this book he has an experience that’s a little bit out of the ordinary, at least for him. It’s more like the kind of thing that would happen to Seepy. Mystical? Not quite, but something close to that. You’ll have to read the book to see what I mean.

And that reminds me. The whole purpose of this little exercise is to tempt you to buy the book. I need the sales, folks. In fact, if the book doesn’t do well, Sheriff Rhodes might have to travel off to that little island I mentioned up above. I’d sure hate that. I’ve gotten used to having him around. So help me and the sheriff out. Buy the book.

Thanks to Kaye for inviting me here! As usual, the sheriff and I thank you for your support.

and, ta DA!, here's where Bill writes all these terrific books - - -

Me and Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine is the longest running mystery fiction magazine still in existence, having been launched in 1941. You'll always find first rate short story fiction by well established writers and big name authors. You'll also be able catch a glimpse of some brilliant new kids just coming into their own, as EQMM accepts and welcome any and all submissions. It has always been an honor to be included between the covers of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.

and this month you can find a little nod to me and Meanderings and Muses.

Yay!!

Thanks to Bill Crider.

Bill Crider is one of the good guys.

He is truly one of the most universally admired and respected and loved people you could ever hope to meet. He's been an integral part of the mystery/crime fiction community for a long time.


He's the well-known author of the much loved Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mystery Series - the latest of which, MURDER IN FOUR PARTS, was published in 2009. The next, MURDER IN THE AIR, will be published this year. In addition to writing novels and short stories, he also pens the Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine.

But shoot - that's enough about that guy! You get the picture, right? He's great and he's one terrific writer, so if you're not familiar with his work, I encourage you to check him out. You will thank me.

Anyhoooooo0 -

Back to me and Ellery Queen.

Bill Crider is an Ellery Queen monthly contributor with his "Blog Bytes." And here's some of what he has to say about moi . . . "Kaye Barley seemed to be having more fun than just about anyone at Bouchercon. Her blog is Meanderings and Muses . . . . Besides her excellent Bouchercon report, filled with pictures of just about everybody who was there (except me), you'll find book give-aways, lots of guest blogs by crime and mystery writers from all over, and, of course, a few meanderings and muses. Check it out."

Y'all. How lovely is that?!

I couldn't believe it though when I read that there was not one single picture of Bill Crider in my Bouchercon 2009 piece! How could that be? I remember running into him in the book room and having a little chat. What on earth happened that I didn't grab the nearest soul and insist they take our picture? Everyone was pretty much onto me by then, I'm thinking, knowing to give me a wide berth or be pressed into "photo duty."

BUT.

I do have a picture I'm quite proud of from Bouchercon 2008. Why lookie here . . .

Judy & Bill Crider, and me - ta da!

And of course, I expect you all to hang around and check back as often as you can, but do plan on a visit right here with our Mr. Crider in August.