Friday, July 15, 2011

What is Bill Crider reading?

Today's featured contributor at Writers Read: Bill Crider, author of The Wild Hog Murders.

His entry begins:
Earlier this week I read Megan Abbott’s new novel, The End of Everything. It’s a coming-of-age story narrated by a 13-year-old girl named Lizzie. Well, not exactly. It’s the grown-up Lizzie who’s really telling the story of her 13-year-old self. Lizzie’s next door neighbor, Evie, seems to Lizzie to have the perfect family. And then Evie is abducted. Lizzie knows things that no one else does, and while the search goes on, she does her own investigation. Secrets are revealed, though not necessarily the ones you might expect.

Right after reading that contemporary book, I plunged into...[read on]
Among the early praise for The Wild Hog Murders:
"On a day I should have been working, I dove into Bill Crider's The Wild Hog Murders and didn't surface until it was finished. Like all the Sheriff Rhodes books, it was a delight. Crider is the champ at combining good, old-fashioned mystery elements with the modern crime novel. And better yet, his hero, Sheriff Dan Rhodes, is a living breathing character that I wish was my next door neighbor."
--Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award-winning author of The Bottoms

"The Dan Rhodes mysteries are rich with rueful humor, sharp observations about the human condition and vivid portraits of small town life. Taken together they're a serious and important body of work. The Wild Hog Murders is especially good with a strong mystery, unforgettable characters and an opening chapter that made my head spin around. Masterful work."
--Ed Gorman, Anthony and Shamus Award-winning author
Learn more about the book and author at Bill Crider's website and blog.

Read the Page 69 Test entries for Crider's A Mammoth Murder, Murder Among the OWLS, Of All Sad Words, Murder in Four Parts, and Murder in the Air, as well as an excellent write-up about Dan Rhodes on the big screen at "My Book, The Movie."

The Page 69 Test: The Wild Hog Murders.

Writers Read: Bill Crider.

--Marshal Zeringue