Bone Dry cover art

Bone Dry

A Blanco County, Texas, Novel, Book 2

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Bone Dry

By: Ben Rehder
Narrated by: Jordan Murphy
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About this listen

Edgar Award-nominated author Ben Rehder's Blanco County comic mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream. The novels have been optioned by Warner Brothers Horizon Scripted Television for development as a cable TV series.

Life can get a little wild from time to time for John Marlin, the game warden in Blanco County, Texas - but few incidents compare to the stories flying around town at the start of this new deer season. Hunters are reporting an incredible sight: A six-foot-tall, drop-dead gorgeous blonde is roaming the woods, searching out camouflage-clad men with guns and disarming them with powers of seduction the likes of which none of them have ever come across before. Everyone has a hearty laugh at the expense of a few embarrassed hunters, until one of their own turns up dead in the woods. Now Marlin has a real mystery to deal with.

Meanwhile, rumors are spreading about a new Blanco resident, an ex-New Yorker named Sal Mameli who's ruffling feathers with his loud mouth and his penchant for getting his own way, no matter what the cost. Before long, John Marlin realizes he may be the only sane man in town, and he's starting to wonder if he can last much longer himself.

It's just the start of another unforgettable hunting season in Bone Dry, the hilarious second novel from Edgar finalist Ben Rehder.

©2003 Ben Rehder (P)2012 Ben Rehder Crime Fiction Mystery Fiction Crime Witty Heartfelt Hunting Suspense

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All stars
Most relevant

Listener received this title free

Format: audiobook
Narrator: Jordan Murphy
The residents of Blanco County sure have character.
I like the way the story unfolds slowly bringing together all the pieces to tie up the case, that’s not to say this is a slow story, in fact it’s pretty fast paced with lots going on, murder, mystery and humour making this a great listen/read.
There’s the regular characters whom I’m beginning to love and a few new characters that bring their own kind of insanity.
Entertaining and enjoyable and the narrator does a pretty good job too.

Bone Dry

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Listener received this title free

The narrator did this story an injustice. The plot was carried out very well but the main character could have been developed a little better. Overall I enjoyed the first book.

Narrator could be better.

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Author Ben Rehder casts a humerous eye over the red neck population of Blanco County. Three years before, the unsuspecting area became host to a New Jersey gangster and his family in the witness protection system. Whilst the newly renamed Sal had dreams of escape to a luxurious island life of sun, sand and luscious ladies, teenaged son Vinnie had his own fantasies of gangsterhood and making his dad proud. The area was dry and a prosperous business of brush clearance was underway, giving Sal the idea of how to raise the money he needed to make good on his hopes for that comfortable peaceful life in his latter years. Then a body is found, a suspect arrested, an elderly local businessman goes missing and a couple move into Blanco County with ideas very different from those of the locals.

With a host of characters to be introduced to the reader at the beginning, the start is slow despite the interesting way in which they are presented, but once underway the story is fun, fast moving and the protagonists take on a full life of their own - these people, with all their foibles and eccentricities, fears, schemes and hopes for their futures, become very real, their world lingering in the reader's head long after the book is finished. Narration by Jordan Murphy is also good, with personalized voicing for each of the numerous individuals and a quick delivery throughout.

My thanks to the rights holder of Bone Dry, who, at my request, freely gifted me a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom. The second in a longish series, it stands completely alone and, for me, personally, has been a good discovery. I enjoyed the quirky characters, their interactions and environment so different from my own, the way in which the author progressed the story and the murder mysteries themselves. A little bit bloody, a smidgen of sex, all worked together to build a rich picture. This is a series to which I will definitely return.

Everything's bigger in Texas, honey.

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I liked all the wacky characters and the intertwined stories, I like the authors humorous style too, I will move on to the next one.

I Liked It

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Listener received this title free

I enjoyed this book. This is book two in the series. You don't need to have listened to book one to enjoy this book because they are stand alone stories but a lot of the characters continue on from the first book so it adds to the fun if you already know the characters and what has gone on before. There is a lot of characters introduced at the start of the book (some you know and some you don't) and you wonder how it is all connected but don't worry all will be revealed as the story unfolds. It is also told by multiple characters but stick with it, it is good. The characters are interesting and it is unusual that the main character is a game warden and not a policeman , although he does get involved in the police investigation. There is no real guessing who the killer is because you know who from the start but it is fun and interesting the way the good guys put everything together to solve the problems and there are quite a few. The book certainly doesn't have time to get boring. Off to start book three.
Deer season is a busy time of year for game warden John Marlen but this year proves to be especially so. A number of reports have come in about a woman sabotaging hunters. It starts with senting a known deer hang out and quickly progresses to taking a gun off a hunter and shooting his truck. All fun and games perpetrated by an eco warrior, until the body of a hunter is found. Just how far would the woman and her boyfriend go to protect some trees and a bird? At the same time the police have there hands full with a missing resident and an overzealous duputy and like the hunting incident that too quickly escalates into something deadly, when the deputy gets taken hostage. Marlen soon finds he is involved in both cases but with his attention divide he loses track of a suspect, who goes out on his own reeking his own justice and destruction. Can Marlen get to the bottom of what's going on in his home town of Bianco or is there more going on than just poaching?
This is a different narrator from the first book but he still does a good job with the characters. I don't normally like it when authors change the narrator as I get use to the first reader but I didn't really notice any change.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Nothing dry about this book

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