Winning Can Be Murder (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries, No. 8)

Winning Can Be Murder (Sheriff Dan Rhodes Mysteries, No. 8)

From BooklistFootball fever has swept Clearview, Texas. Probably the only citizen whose enthusiasm is tempered a bit is Sheriff Dan Rhodes. Oh, he wants the team to win, but he knows this kind of local frenzy can lead to a few extra beers, punches between good folks from rival towns, and even an on-field melee or two. What Rhodes doesn't expect is murder, but that's what he gets when the team's offensive coordinator is found with a bullet hole in his head. The clues are slim, and the suspects slimmer. The whole case changes when a local gambler is also murdered, and the town fathers pressure Rhodes to solve both cases before the next big game. The eighth Rhodes mystery is a keeper. The humor, the suspense, and the small-town ambience all ring true. Anyone who's ever experienced high-school sports fever will relate to Rhodes' consternation. Wes LukowskyWhile all of Blacklin County, Texas, celebrates the first winning season of high-school football in years, Sherliff Dan Rhodes finds himself dealing with drunken festivities, fights, and the murder of the team's offensive coachFrom Publishers WeeklyTexans take their high-school football seriously-seriously enough for murder in the eighth Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery (after Murder Most Fowl). For the first time since 1949, Clearview has a shot at the state championship, and the town is ecstatic. In the final seconds of a grueling, fight-filled game in which Clearview trails by one after scoring a touchdown, an argument erupts on the sidelines between head coach Jasper Knowles and offensive coach Brady Meredith. Knowles goes for two and wins the game. The next day, Meredith turns up dead. Rhodes, who knows the town's oddsmaker was also at the game, suspects a point-shaving scheme. The town sports reporter tells him that Meredith had been playing around with a fellow coach's wife, and there are rumors that someone might have been providing steroids for the team. The steroid angle looks good when Rhodes finds out that a drug-dealing biker is back in town. A second murder temporarily throws him off the scent, but, slowly and surely, the poised sheriff questions his way through the high-school sports hierarchy until he uncovers the killer. Although some good-old-boy shenanigans spice up the straightforward investigation, Crider keeps a leisurely pace. In fact, his writing is nearly as phlegmatic as the methodical, unrattled Rhodes.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalSheriff Dan Rhodes hates the consequence of Blacklin County's first winning season of high school football-the murder of the team's offensive coach. Series fans and others will appreciate this return to rural Texas and Crider's memorable characters.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus ReviewsThe usual torpor in Clearview, Texas, where Sheriff Dan Rhodes runs the tiny police force (Murder Most Fowl, 1994, etc.), has given way to football fever as the Clearview Catamounts, the high school team, beat the Garton Greyhounds--one more victory and the Catamounts could be headed for the State level. When the body of assistant coach Brady Meredith is found shot to death on the night of the big win, the Sheriff turns up lots of rumors and not much more--possible steroid use by team members; Meredith's interest in the lush wife of special teams' coach Bob Deedham; the presence in town of drug-dealing motorcycle bums Rapper and Nellie. The Sheriff's own sighting of Meredith with gambler Hayes Ford adds another dimension to the puzzle. Could Meredith have been shaving points? The killing of Ford only days later makes the investigation more urgent, but the town's citizens seem interested mainly in how the team will be affected while their ever more laconic Sheriff seems almost to back into a lackluster solution. Readers enamored of the folksy Texas scene will get their fill. But those who look for animated characters and a bit of suspense in their who