Bill Crider
That Truman Smith was sitting in a frayed lawn chair reading an old paperback copy of Tobacco Road was not remarkable. And strange as it sounds, it wasn't particularly noteworthy that someone wanted Smith to look into the murder of a prairie chicken; after all, he'd investigated and solved the murder of an alligator, hadn't he?
Bill Kane was going to hang for murdering Ryan's sister... After three long years, folks were shocked Ryan would show his face after abandoning his sister. Others were amazed that he was back at all. No man could have survived that night in Shatter's Grove. Ryan was no ordinary man. Tularosa was in for more shocks and surprises, because he was back for the real truth behind his sister's murder.
3) Gator Kill
After he failed to find his missing sister, whose remains finally turned up in a bag in an overgrown field, Texas PI Truman Smith retired to become a housepainter on Galveston Island. But when an alligator is killed and its carcass left on display on a family friend's property, Tru is persuaded to search for the culprit.
THE TRUMAN SMITH PRIVATE EYE SERIES: Truman Smith operates on Galveston Island, not far from Houston. The first book in the series, Dead on the Island, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private-Eye Writers of America.||||In Murder Takes a Break, Galveston, Texas principal investigator Truman Smith loathes missing person cases because they either end up badly for his clients, or the person does not want to be found. So only as a personal favor
...Truman "Tru" Smith is a PI who'd rather be reading Faulkner or fishing on his beloved Galveston Island than solving mysteries, so when his friend Dino asks for help, Tru at first demurs. With some not-very-subtle arm twisting, Dino finally persuades Tru to investigate the disappearance of Old Harry, a homeless vagrant whom Dino and his family have "adopted."
PI Truman Smith has become a loner after failing to find his sister Jan during a recent search of Galveston Island. He jogs on the Seawall, plays with his cat, and reads lots of Faulkner books. Then an old high school football buddy, Dino, asks him to find a young girl named Sharon. As Tru begins his investigation, dead bodies begin to appear and Tru himself wrapped up in a dark mystery.
9) Manhunters
When the weather outside is frightful, curl up with New York Times–bestselling masters of holiday mystery Elizabeth Peters, Margaret Maron, and more!
A New England college hosts a counterfeiting scrooge, an angelic chorister falls to earth, a tight-fisted patriarch realizes his days are numbered, and a politician presents his wife with an explosive gift. In Christmas Stalkings, bestselling mystery author Charlotte