Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries)

Compound Murder: A Dan Rhodes Mystery (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries)

Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning series Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He's not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest. Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it's up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town. Bill Crider's Compound Murder is an enjoyable police procedural filled with surprises, chuckles, and a quirky cast that will captivate mystery readers. “Anthony Award–winner Crider's 20th mystery featuring sheriff Dan Rhodes...offers the usual enjoyable combination of witty help from dispatcher Hack Jensen, minor crises like a hog loose in Hannah Bigelow's house, the theft of hair extensions from Lonnie Wallace's Beauty Shack, and a major crime or two....Rhodes, often embarrassingly compared to fictional sheriff Sage Barton, successfully emulates that action hero in the clever and satisfying resolution.” ― Publishers Weekly “Kudos to Crider for his 20th entry (after Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen )....As expected, humor and comfort are part of the mix.” ― Library Journal “Since 1986, Crider of Alvin has been turning out novels in his Dan Rhodes series, about a sheriff in fictional Blacklin County who solves folksy mysteries involving barbershop quartets and beauty parlors. This twentieth installment finds Rhodes dealing with the murder of a college instructor, but rest assured, the main character still finds time to ruminate about such Texas glories as his beloved--and now discontinued--Dublin Dr Pepper.” ― Texas Monthly Bill Crider is the winner of two Anthony Awards and an Edgar Award Finalist. A college English professor for many years, he's published more than seventy-five crime, Western, and horror novels, as well as a number of children's books. He lives with his wife in Alvin, Texas. Compound Murder A Dan Rhodes Mystery By Bill Crider St. Martin's Press Copyright © 2013 Bill Crider All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-312-64165-8 CHAPTER 1 Sheriff Dan Rhodes sat at his kitchen table and glared at the plastic bottle of Mr. PiBB. "Go ahead," his wife, Ivy, said. "Try it. You might like it. Breakfast of champions." "That's Wheaties," Rhodes said. Ivy ignored that. "Do you think you're going to bring the corporate giant to its knees if you never drink another Dr Pepper? They're not even going to notice." Rhodes knew she was right. What good would it do anybody if he never drank another Dr Pepper? Would it really punish anybody other than himself? Still, he could never forgive the corporate giant for stopping the Dublin Dr Pepper plant from bottling the drink made with cane sugar the way it should be made. It had been a year now, and he still couldn't forgive and forget. It didn't matter that other bottlers were making Dr Pepper with sugar of some kind or the other. It just wasn't the same. "Mr. PiBB tastes just like Dr Pepper, anyway," Ivy said. "You won't be able to tell the difference." Blasphemy. "You might not be able to tell," Rhodes said. "I can." "You could always try something else. A cola drink, maybe." Worse than blasphemy. "Hah." "What you need is some solid food," Ivy said. "I'll scramble an egg for you. Fry some bacon. That would do you a lot more good." "I'm not in the mood," Rhodes said, giving the Mr. PiBB another glare. Yancey, the poofy little Pomeranian, came running into the kitchen. He skidded to a stop when he saw Sam, the black cat, eating from his bowl near the refrigerator. Yancey had seen Sam there a thousand times, but it always seemed to come as a complete surprise to him that there was a cat in the house. He slid into the leg of Rhodes's chair and yipped in displeasure. "That's kind of the way I feel," Rhodes told the dog, who sat looking up at him and whining as if looking for a little sympathy. Sam ignored both of them and kept on eating. Cats didn't care about soft drinks, the presence of dogs, or much of anything else, as far as Rhodes could tell. Rhodes stood up, took the bottle of Mr. PiBB from the table, and put it back in the refrigerator. He'd been going through that routine for weeks now. He wondered how long it would take to wear out the bottle. Or for him to br