Murder in Four Parts (Dan Rhodes Series #16)

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Murder in Four Parts (Dan Rhodes Series #16) Pub. Date: 2/17/2009 Publisher: St. Martin's Press

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Overview

When Sheriff Dan Rhodes is asked to join the Clearview Barbershop Chorus, he suspects that there's an ulterior motive, mainly because he can't sing a note. He's momentarily distracted by a rogue alligator on the loose, but shortly afterward, Lloyd Berry, the director of the chorus, is murdered. Berry is suspected of embezzling money, and he's leaked the information that a member of the chorus ordered a singing valentine for a woman who isn't his wife. Later, Rhodes discovers that Berry has been gambling on eight-liners at Rollin' Sevens, a barely legal operation in a strip center on the outskirts of town.

Rhodes also must deal with the usual assortment of small-town crimes: a man dressed in his underpants and cowboy boots picketing a law office, dogfood theft, and attempts on the life of a man who likes to root through garbage. Rhodes sorts through clues that involve geocaching and barbershop singing with the help of a few oddball local characters before he solves the crime.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Sheriff Dan Rhodes claims he can't join the Clearview Community Barbershop Chorus because he's too busy "busting crime twenty-four hours a day" in Crider's wryly humorous if somewhat sleepy 16th sleuthathon (after 2008's Of All Sad Words). Chief among those crimes is the murder of Lloyd Berry, the chorus director and local florist, whose head somebody bashed in with a pipe cutter wrench. Also causing the Texas lawman considerable consternation is locating the owner of a chicken-eating alligator, calming down two feuding neighbors and dissecting the cause of the chorus's internal strife. Then there's the nude bozo doing jumping jacks in front of what Rhodes calls the Lawj Mahal, the big new law offices of the county's most successful attorney. Trying to solve the various puzzles leads Rhodes into some less than agreeable situations, like pulling a Charles Bronson-chasing a bad guy on top of a moving train-at the mystery's satisfying climax. (Feb.)

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From The Critics

Texas Sheriff Dan Rhodes can't sing a lick. So how come the local barbershop chorus has designs on his baritone?Lloyd Berry, musical director of the Clearview Community Barbershop Chorus, issues an invitation that's gracious but puzzling because Sheriff Rhodes knows exactly how flat, stale and unmusical his baritone sounds. Why would Berry want the sheriff to join the chorus? Clearly, he thinks, there's a hidden agenda lurking, and of course he's right. In a group dedicated to four-part harmony, the prevailing mood of the membership is anything but harmonious. The only thing worse than the smoldering feuds are the conflicts that have burst into flame. Berry's really seeking an enforcer, a man with better muscles than pipes. But his efforts at making peace are too late to save himself, and he's swiftly bludgeoned into history. By chorister or choristers unknown? At first it certainly seems that way. But soon enough the sheriff discovers, as he usually does in this durable series (Of All Sad Words, 2008, etc.), that things are not as they seem. The estimable Berry had hidden depths and an intriguing list of vengeful enemies, any one of whom might have brought the music director to his ultimate dissonance. Underplaying has always been the lynchpin of Sheriff Rhodes's charm, but this time the gap between laid-back and boring is perilously narrow.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780312386740
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 2/17/2009
Pages: 288
Series: Dan Rhodes Series, #16
Product dimensions: 5.80 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Bill Crider serves as chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College. His first book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series won an Anthony Award for Best First Novel. His short story "Cranked", which appeared in Damn Near Dead, was nominated for an Edgar Award. He lives in Alvin, Texas.

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KevinTipple

Posted April 5, 2009

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Sheriff Rhodes returns in: "Murder in Four Parts: A Dan Rhodes Mystery

Like many of us, Sheriff Dan Rhodes knows he really can't sing and doesn't need some guy on a certain TV show to tell him. As a sheriff, Dan Rhodes is asked to join just about every group in Blacklin County. Most of the invitations he declines and he has every intention of declining the current invitation to join the barbershop chorus. Hack, the dispatcher, counsels otherwise and points out that it would help come election time.

The next election is more than a year out so Rhodes isn't worried about that. Elections are a sore spot with Rhodes anyway and he is more than a little tired of folks threatening him with their vote if he doesn't do things the way they want. Something that happens soon enough in the latest in the series along with a death.

Maybe the director of the barbershop chorus, Lyold Berry, wasn't interested in Rhodes singing. Maybe Lloyd Berry was hoping that if Rhodes joined the chorus, Berry would have some protection. Certainly his floral shop wasn't safe as that was where he was found dead behind the counter with his head bashed in. Proably due to the heavy metal wrench next to the body. Solving the case requires Rhodes full attention, but the frequent sightings of a naked man outside the local attorney's office, the chicken eating alligator, and a host of other things will fight for attention as well. That, and the constant reminders, like the drumbeat of the approaching storm, of the fact that the next election is coming.

On one end of the spectrum, you have Joe Landsale and his vision of East Texas. A vision of a landscape frequently populated by human beings full of violence, guile and twisted character. In his work there is a sense of the gothic coupled with a living breathing evil that many graphically and willingly embrace.

At the other end, you have the Dan Rhodes series by Bill Crider. A vision of East Texas where most are hardworking honest folks trying to do the right thing. A vision where occasionally, somebody slips up and kills somebody, but they never really meant to do it. It just happened and usually the victim bears some responsibility for his or her demise. And Rhodes just keeps asking questions until he catches the killer in one lie too many.

While both visions of East Texas have a lot of truth in them, Crider is doing for East Texas what Philip Craig did for Martha's Vineyard and Steven F. Havill has done for Posadas County, New Mexico. Unlike Havill who changed his series several novels ago by making his signature sheriff Bill Gastner nothing more than a minor player, Crider has kept Rhodes front and center in a series that consistently delivers a good read. You can't ask for more than that.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2009
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harstan

Posted January 31, 2009

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the latest Sheriff Rhodes police procedural is an engaging amusing small town mystery

In Texas the Clearview Community Barbershop Chorus musical director florist Lloyd Berry invites Sheriff Dan Rhodes to join as a baritone. Dan is shocked by the invitation as he knows he cannot sing worth saving his soul and so does everyone else including Lloyd knows that as a fact. However, he rejects the offer stating he is too busy with law enforcement.

Soon afterward while Dan searches for an apparent chicken eating gator, someone bashes in Lloyd¿s head. He questions the chorus members and is taken aback by the amount of discord; the feuds are palatable leading Dan to wonder if one of the members killed Lloyd. Other incidents divide Dan¿s time, but as he digs into Berry¿s past, the sheriff finds several irate enemies with motives.

MURDER IN FOUR PARTS is overall a fun often amusing thriller although the prime investigation never accelerates though the trademark sidebar inquiries with the eccentric cast are humorous. Dan is his usual self as he takes his time to insure he is doing things right. Although not quite as exciting as past Rhodes tales (see OF ALL SAD WORDS and MURDER AMONG THE OWLS), the latest Sheriff Rhodes police procedural is an engaging amusing small town mystery.

Harriet Klausner

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Murder in Four Parts (Dan Rhodes Series #16)

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Overview

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

From The Critics

Product Details

Meet the Author

Rating Distribution

Sheriff Rhodes returns in: "Murder in Four Parts: A Dan Rhodes Mystery

the latest Sheriff Rhodes police procedural is an engaging amusing small town mystery