Truman Smith Private Eye Books

Private Investigator Truman Smith, demoralized after being unable to find his own sister, is drawn back into the game by an old friend who wants him to find a missing teenager whose life may be in danger

While hanging out in Galveston, Truman Smith agrees to investigate an alligator poaching, but this seemingly straightforward case becomes much uglier and more dangerous as Truman gets closer to the truth

Truman Smith is happily fishing off a Galveston pier when his friend Dino seeks him out and asks for some help: Outside Harry, an old-timer with connections to Dino's family, is missing. Smith doesn't want to have anything to do with it; the last time he looked for a missing person the outcome left something to be desired. But Dino has a way of being persuasive, and Tru promises to give it a day or two. When the first person he questions is murdered, and when he himself is shot at, Truman Smith is reminded of all the reasons he hates missing person cases. But he's committed now: Outside Harry's life is in his hands, and Smith is going to see to it that if Harry has any secrets he wants to tell, he won't have to take them to an early grave.

From Publishers Weekly In this enjoyable fourth series entry, Galveston PI Truman Smith (When Old Men Die, 1994) is hired by Lance Garrison, his still unpleasant but now rich high-school classmate, to investigate the shooting of a prairie chicken (really a kind of grouse) on Garrison's federally protected land in Picketville, Tex. Smith reluctantly agrees, largely because his high-school sweetheart, Anne Lindeman, now lives in Picketville. A prime suspect is Ralph Evans, an antigovernment local talk-radio host who declares his concern for endangered species by advertising Spotted Owl in a Can. When Smith and Anne's father-in-law, Red Lindeman, explore the scene of the crime, a sniper in a crop duster opens fire on them?a "fly-by shooting," Smith calls it. Then Anne's husband, manager of the radio station, is shotgunned to death. Police chief Ward Peavy eventually charges local birdwatcher Martin York. When Smith discovers that a previous prisoner died in Peavy's jail, the big picture takes shape. Truman Smith would rather laze in his lawn chair, sipping Big Red and reading Tobacco Road, but when he gets on a case, he's methodical. So's Crider, who fashions a tight plot filled with laconic charm and idiosyncratic characters. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist If y'all are lookin' for a real fine read, Crider's your man. He writes one mean murder mystery, and his walkin' tall hero, Truman Smith, is as smart and as tough as they come. Plus Crider knows just how that East Texas good-ol'-boy talk sounds. This time out, Truman gets suckered into one of the craziest cases of all time. Lance Garrison, someone Tru went to high school with and didn't much like, wants Tru to investigate the death of a prairie chicken. Yep, that's right. A bird. But a rare, exotic bird. Lance thinks there's some government plot or maybe a loony-toons nut behind the prairie chicken's death. Tru agrees to investigate, partly for the $500-a-day fee and partly because he'll be in close proximity to Anne Lindemann, the still-beautiful high-school sweetheart who ditched him for Lance years earlier. For pure fun and sheer entertainment, it doesn't get much better than Crider's Tru Smith stories. Highly recommended. Emily Melton

Randall Kirbo had disappeared during spring break; as far as the police are concerned, the kid had just decided to take off. His parents don't agree with that theory, and Truman Smith has some questions of his own. They get louder when he learns about the discovery of the body of a young woman, and the more the police deny any connection between the murder and the disappearance, the clearer it becomes that Randall is in serious trouble - if he's alive. Too quickly, Truman Smith realizes that he's in trouble, too. He can't trust his sources, he can't trust his witnesses, and it's becoming clear that he might not be able to trust his friends. That leaves him with his cat, too many theories, and a target painted on his back.