Terrific period mystery
Rating:
4 / 5
One of the most impressive things about this book is the period detail; set in the Depression, it convincingly captures a way of life unique to Southwest Oklahoma. There is wisdom, poverty, strength of character, humor, prejudice, and even a nice little mystery story woven in.The only reason I didn't rate the book 5 stars was because of the mystery itself, which I think suffered because of the book's compact length. With too few red herrings, the short list of suspects made the "whodunit" aspect a little too easy. Still, a very enjoyable read, and I will be reading the sequel soon.
Looking back with humor and affection
Rating:
5 / 5
As an author who loves small towns...I felt right at home with Fred Harris's first Okie Dunn novel, "Coyote Revenge." It was like finding a wildflower pressed in an old Bible, or a photograph in a shoebox at the back of the closet."Coyote Revenge" was reviewed in the New York Times under Crime Fiction, but the mystery is pretty thin. Who killed the old sheriff? There aren't many suspects, so take your pick. The protagonist, Okie Dunn, is the new sheriff, but there's so little violence and so much examination of personal relationships that I'm tempted to call it a cozy. Police procedures in that time and place consist of shipping a gun off the State Crime Bureau by Mistletoe Express. "Coyote Revenge" is a small, scrumptious slice of American life in the 1930s. Harris sets his novel in a fictional version of the little southwestern Oklahoma town of Walters. That's where he grew up, and where I was living at about the same time, so I know the territory well. The story is simple. Okie Dunn is suspended from law school at the University of Oklahoma for decking a professor. He goes home, where his father is dying of lung cancer, and gets work as a cattle trader. When the sheriff, a boyhood buddy, is murdered, Okie pins on the star and sets out to discover "whodunit." Harris has perfect pitch when it comes to the way we talked back then and there (and still do sometimes). His dialogue is a flawless rendering of what may seem like a foreign language to some readers. His description of the home cooking of that day will ring bells with anyone who grew up on either side of the Red River in the first half of the 20th century. Example: "Most of Mama's recipes, if she'd ever written them down, would have probably started out with: 'First, get the grease hot.' All the meat we ate -- home-cured ham and sausage, newly killed chicken, a meat-locker steak -- was salted with a heavy hand and then fried nearly stiff. She salted and fried potatoes and mealed-okra, too, in plenty of lard. And Mama's string beans or a mess of greens always went into the pot with a good dose of bacon drippings that she'd saved in a tin can on top of the stove. Then, salted generously, too, they were boiled to kingdom come." If you want an honest look at life in rural Oklahoma during the bleak years of the Great Depression, in a story told with humor and affection, this is your book...
COYOTE REVENGE IS REALLY OK
Rating:
5 / 5
As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release within this culture that worships youth, I suppose I should not reveal my age by admitting I actually once wore a presidential campaign button for the author of this mystery. I would've voted for him too, save for the fact that Fred Harris dropped out of the race long before the California primary. He would've gotten my first ever vote (see, I'm not THAT ancient!), but now I get to vote strongly in favor of his first mystery novel. COYOTE REVENGE is set in Oklahoma during the Depression. Times are tough for everyone, especially Hoyt and Inez Ready. Someone shoots them and then burns down their home. Two years later, the mystery is still unsolved when their son, Dub, dies under dubious circumstances. Dub Ready was sheriff, and the sheriff's job then goes to Okie Dunn, a friend of Dub's who recently returned home after dropping out of law school. Okie begins to investigate the deaths, and the investigation produces some interesting answers. Fred Harris has written a terrific historical mystery here, and it captures its time and place perfectly. I would expect nothing less from a man I still think would have made an excellent president.
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