Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Yard Dog by Sheldon Russell. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.
The Yard Dog by Sheldon Russell
A Hook Runyon Mystery
St. Martin's Minotaur (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-56670-0 (0312566700)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-56670-8 (9780312566708)
Publication Date: September 2009
List Price: $24.99
Review: Set in the mid-1940s along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway lines in northern Oklahoma, Sheldon Russell introduces a rather unusual character, Hook Runyon, a one-armed railroad agent, sometimes known as a "yard dog", hired to run off hobos and arrest pickpockets, in The Yard Dog, the first mystery in this series.
Spark Dugan, a non-too-bright loner, has lived in a tar paper shack beneath a railway trestle just about all his life. He discovered early on that when the coal cars stopped at the station, chunks of coal would fall to the ground. He gathered the bits of coal and finding a ready market, sold them to local residents for heating or cooking. On a good day he would make enough money for some “shine” to drink, a Bull Durham to smoke, and some baloney for frying. But now there's a war on, and Oklahoma has a POW camp with 5000 prisoners along the rail lines. More trains are coming, which means more people, which means Spark has to be more careful not to be seen taking the coal, even at night. One night he is evidently not careful enough. The next morning his body is found beneath a refrigerator, or "reefer", car on the tracks. Hook Runyan was both a friend and customer of Spark. Spark had delivered a bucket of coal every morning to Hook’s home–an old caboose. Although the men that find him said Spark must have committed suicide, Hook does not even consider that as an option. He believes Spark was murdered. But why? He doesn’t know. But he and his good friend Runt, the local moonshiner, set out to learn the truth. What they find is a far greater crime than any they could have ever imagined.
Russell has created one of the most noteworthy characters in modern detective fiction. Hook Runyon is tough, smart, witty ... and collects first editions! When he begins to investigate the death of Spark, he heads for the POW camps, the only recent change in the landscape. There are prisoners who are ordered to help unload the trains that pass through, and of course there are men who guard them. But there's also the local millionaire, Hugh Favor, who owns the Favor Oil Company. Hook's investigation suggests there is some relationship–conspiracy?–between Favor and the train deliveries, but he's unsure how to proceed ... and who at the camp may also be involved and benefits.
The Yard Dog has so much to offer. Russell relives the horrors of Hitler's Germany, and its impact on rural Americans in the form of POW camps. Into this mix he brings a one-armed yard dog, a book collector who takes a shine to moonshine. And there's a new lady in his life, Dr. Reina Kaplan, who is down from New York to teach English to the prisoners. The plot is well thought out, the characters memorable, the setting unusual, overall it's incredible. The Yard Dog is not only one of the best debuts of the year, it is among the best mysteries of the year.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Yard Dog and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
If you are interested in purchasing The Yard Dog from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. The Yard Dog (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.
Synopsis (from the publisher): The Yard Dog takes place near the close of World War II, when a large number of Nazi POWs were incarcerated in camps scattered across the prairies of the United States.
At Waynoka Divisional Point, near POW Camp Alva, the disillusioned Hook Runyon is assigned by the railroad to run off hobos and arrest pickpockets. Left behind in the war because of the loss of his arm in a car accident, Hook lives in a caboose, collects rare books, and drinks busthead liquor. When a coal picker by the name of Spark Dugan is found run over by a reefer car, Hook and his sidekick, Runt, the local moonshiner, suspect foul play and are drawn into a scheme far greater than either could have imagined. This conspiracy reaches the highest echelons of the camp and beyond and will push Hook and Runt to their physical and mental limits.
Hook is a complex character, equal parts rough and vulnerable, an unlikely and unwilling hero. He is more than matched by Dr. Reina Kaplan, a Jewish big-city transplant to Camp Alva who is battling her own demons and has been put in charge of educating the Nazi inmates in the basics of democracy before their eventual return to Germany.
Vivid descriptions of period detail, stark landscapes, and unique characters make this first book in the Hook Runyon series a fascinating mystery full of tension and deep insight.
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