Overview
OLD GRAY WOLF
James D. Doss
In James D. Doss’s final entry in his wild and witty mystery series, Colorado rancher and tribal investigator Charlie Moon faces his most challenging case—and enemy—to date.
Former police officer, sometime tribal investigator, and current rancher Charlie Moon was enjoying a relaxing vacation day in a nearby town with his friend, Police Chief Scott Parris. They weren’t looking for any trouble, and they would have been more than happy to just mind their own business. But then a lady’s purse is snatched—and things start to get seriously out of hand…
When the thief, LeRoy Hooten,makes a run for it, Charlie and Parris have no choice but to stop him with the only weapon they have on-hand: a can of black-eyed peas.Hooten dies and his grieving mother—who happens to be a brutal mobster’s widow—wastes no time in settling the score.With an assassin (code name: Cowboy) on the way, the FBI close behind, and the ominous visions of his shaman Aunt Daisy influencing his every move, Charlie’s going to need all the help he can get to restore law and order on the Ute reservation. And time is running out…
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
The 17th and last Charlie Moon mystery (after 2011’s Coffin Man) from Doss (1939–2012) forms a fitting capstone to this offbeat western series. When purse-snatcher LeRoy Hooten expires shortly after Charlie’s friend Scott Parris, the police chief of Granite City, Colo., hits LeRoy in the head with a can of black-eyed peas, the late criminal’s mother, a wealthy mob widow, puts a mysterious assassin known as the Cowboy on Scott and Charlie’s trail. Doss spins out a slight plot, otherwise preoccupied with the ominous visions of Charlie’s irascible shaman aunt, Daisy Perika, and would-be bounty hunter Louella Smithson up to its surprisingly bloody conclusion, with a folksy, humorously digressive storytelling style as old-school as his western lawmen heroes. Some readers will find it hokey, but Doss’s fans will enjoy a final chance to explore a world that offers glimpses of real-life Ute culture as well as violence that falls somewhere between Cormac McCarthy and Tex Avery. Agent: Rich Henshaw, the Richard Henshaw Group. (Oct.)Kirkus Reviews
Doss, who died this past spring, parts company with Charlie Moon (Coffin Man, 2011, etc.) in this 17th and final go-round. It's an ignominious ending for purse snatcher LeRoy Hooten, who enters the hereafter when Granite City chief of police Scott Parris beans him with a can of black-eyed peas while his pal Charlie Moon, part-time deputy, former Ute tribal investigator, inveterate gambler and laconic rancher, looks on. Hooten's mom, Francine, who takes offense at the lucky pitch that caused her son's demise, calls on the notorious "cowboy assassin" to take out Parris and Moon, thus setting in motion an all-consuming debacle that strews bodies and witticisms from Illinois to Colorado, with stopovers along the way for spirit sightings, pitukupf visitations, double dates, engagements and disengagements, grumblings from Moon's irascible old auntie Daisy Perkia, and deep sighs and despair from lovesick Ute-Papago orphan Sarah Frank. Of course there are a few detours to allow a retired Texas Ranger, his private-eye-wannabe granddaughter and a luscious FBI agent to have their say and slay while still leaving room for red herrings that jack up the suspense. In all, five will expire, assumed identities will crumble and not a single reader will get through a page without a guffaw or two. The puckish Doss, who combined charm, mayhem and deviously clever clues, will be much missed.From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR JAMES D. DOSSand his Charlie Moon mysteries
COFFIN MAN
“Charlie Moon looks into several puzzles that confound…in Doss’s amusing 16thadventure featuring the Ute Indian part-time deputy and full-time rancher. Series fans will enjoy spending time with old friends.”—Publishers Weekly
A DEAD MAN’S TALE
“Top-flight work from Doss…a droll fandango.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Funny, even slapstick in places…memorable characters add zest.”—Booklist
THE WIDOW’S REVENGE
“Insanely good.”—Kirkus Reviews
“It’s Moon who stands tallest in The Widow’s Revenge…a nonstop read [in] this solid series.”
—Booklist
“Successfully evokes the mysticism of traditional Native American storytelling.”—Publishers Weekly