Red Dog : A Slim in Little Egypt Mystery
Author(s): Jason Miller
Pitbull fighters, shadowy ne’er-do-wells, and murder mark Jason Miller’s wry, darkly atmospheric second novel in his Little Egypt series—perfect for fans of Frank Bill and Greg Iles.
One hot summer day, in his home in the southern Illinois coal country known as Little Egypt—a Midwest Gothic wonderland of barren vistas, sinister hollows, petty corruption, and deeply strange characters—the self-appointed “redneck detective” known as Slim gets a visit from a shady-looking pair who introduce themselves as Sheldon Cleaves and his son, A. Evan, looking to hire him to find a missing dog. As a miner with a reputation for “bloodhounding”—tracking down missing persons the police can’t find or won’t—Slim is accustomed to looking for people, not pets. On the other hand, he needs the cash to fix his air conditioner. But when he pulls the thread that leads to the Cleaveses’ red-haired purebred pitbull—and then the dognapper is discovered with his head blown off—Slim finds himself plunged into a world of underground dogfights and white supremacists. . . all because he just wanted to get cool.
As bitingly funny as it is starkly violent, Red Dog marks the emergence of a new, gritty voice in detective fiction.
Review(s):
“Miller’s second novel certainly has the country environment nailed down with vivid scenery and realistic dialogue . . . Using a mixture of real town and fictional spots, Miller’s view of Little Egypt, in the southern third of Illinois, evocatively shows how a regional mystery can incisively explore an area.”
“In Miller’s funny follow-up to 2015’s Down Don’t Bother Me . . . Slim cracks wise, gives and takes beatings and insults, and gets just enough help to survive in this tale sure to please fans of light regional mysteries.”
There is great pleasure in Miller’s way with words…and hats off to a devilishly clever plot. A nice mix of hard-boiled action and Holmes homage.
“’Red Dog’ maintains a canny balance of weirdness, violence, compassion for animals and black humor.”
“Red Dog is just the right combination of mystery and cynical humor to captivate the reader until the last page. I can’t wait to read the next one! … F*cking fantastic.”
“Jason Miller’s Red Dog is a gritty mystery that pulls the hat-trick of being as funny as it is intense. I read it in one sitting and would happily slip back into Slim and his daughter Anci’s world tomorrow.”
“If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a Goonie when they’re old enough to buy alcohol, well, look no further than Slim.”
“Red Dog reads like driving a pickup with a lift kit at 80 mph down back roads, while listening to Mitch Hedberg and Steve Earle. Miller’s sentences explode from the page like they were dynamited out of bedrock; his dialogue and plot crackle with the energy of a Midwestern thunderstorm.”
“A seamlessly plotted mystery with a likable hero in a gritty world populated by meth heads, environmental activists, and ordinary folks just trying to make a go of it. Tim Cockey and Robert Crais fans who crave laugh-out-loud dialog will add this title to their to-read lists.”
“Red Dog is violent country noir at its funniest--as if Tim Dorsey wandered out of Florida into Donald Ray Pollock’s white trash Knockemstiff, Ohio”
ISBN: 9780062449061