Gator Kill

Truman Smith Private Eye #2

by Bill Crider

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. Soon the brooding gumshoe is stumbling over the bodies of dead humans, is shot at and run down by a souped-up four-by-four as he's embroiled in a plot complete with crooked police, a possible land-grabbing sheme and assorted "bad guys".

Genres: Mystery

Hardcover

First published May 1, 1992

About the author

Taught English at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Tex., and went on to become the chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College in Alvin, Tex.; prolific writer of mystery, science fiction, western, horror, and children's books, not to mention short stories, articles, reviews, and blog posts; perhaps best known for his Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series.

Reviews

[Kevintipple · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the events in Dead on the Island private investigator Truman Smith has not been doing much of any investigating. Instead, he has been primarily house painting over on Galveston Island. He is aware that hiding away on the island painting a house here and there does little more than earn him some bucks and passes the time. So, when Fred Benton called and asked him to come about a dead alligator Truman was interested inspite of himself.

Fred Benton has a lot of acreage over by Eagle Lake outside of Houston. A lot of his land is thickly forested and swampy and is a natural home to gators. That is a good thing as he loves alligators beyond all reason. It is September, hot and humid, and somebody went and killed one of the many alligators that live on his land. Not only did they break the law by killing it on his land without permission, the person sent him a clear message in the way they did it. The creature was killed, skinned and left allowing the meat to rot. In Fred Barton’s view, what was done was murder and he wants the killer caught and punished.

Back when Truman was investigating as a private investigator, chasing murders wasn’t something he usually did. Benton does not care as he figures finding missing people was what Truman did and certainly somebody is missing---- the gator killer. As he puts it to Truman:

“What’s the difference? If you’re lookin’ for somebody, you’re lookin’ for somebody.” (Page 8)

While Truman thinks it is far more complicated than that he eventually agrees to look into the matter with no guarantees. He will soon come to regret that decision because of the time he has to spend out in the swamp fighting the heat, the bugs, the mud, and the smells. Digging a bullet out of a dead alligator is not fun either. All that and then the murders start.

Gator Kill: A Truman Smith Mystery was originally published in 1992 and follows Dead on the Island. Events from the previous book are briefly mentioned in the opening pages of this complex mystery and serve as a foundation of sorts for Truman’s taking the case. A case that is rather complicated and takes a number of twists and turns before things are finally resolved. Very different from and darker in tone than the author’s Sheriff Rhodes series (Between The Living And The Dead: A Dan Rhodes Mystery is coming out August 11th) the read features a slew of interesting characters, plenty of action and clues, and a case that has no easy answers. Gator Kill: A Truman Smith Mystery is a good one.

Gator Kill: A Truman Smith Mystery
Bill Crider
http://www.billcrider.com
Walker and Company (subsidiary of Bloomsbury Publishing)
http://www.bloomsbury.com
May 1992
ISBN# 0-8027-3213-5
Hardback (also available in audio and e-book formats)
186 Pages
$18.95



Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.



Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/

[Ben Boulden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific private eye novel with a bunch of action, humor, and a nice mystery.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Truman Smith novel by Bill Crider is my favorite so far (only one left to read). Smith is hired by a cantankerous older man to find out who killed and skinned an alligator on his vast swath of land. Fred Benton loves 'gators, people less so. Over the course of the investigation, Smith realizes that Fred isn't telling him the whole story, that the local law enforcement may not be as inept (or as benign) as they seem, and that hunting for a gator killer can be hazardous to your health. Environmental, more than wildlife, matters come to the fore, and corruption has a way of seeping into every community. The Truman Smith novels are well developed and expertly plotted. There is humor in the Joe Lansdale/Carl Hiaasen mode but Gator Kill seems the one that would have been better with a harder edge. There is anger and outrage in these pages. By the way, Smith's success on this case gets him hired in volume four, where he solves the murder of a prairie chicken.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Gator Kill”, second in the Truman Smith series, sees our P.I. hero investigating the killing of an alligator on a rural farm.
It’s a favour for a friend and, as he’s drifted back to being a hermit, it gets him out of the house.
It quickly becomes evident that there is more to be investigitated than a dead gator. There’s cattle rustling, murder, and Truman is attacked.
The odd thing about the book is that the mystery of Truman’s vanished sister, always in the background in the first book, is summarily solved when her body is found but that’s it – from there on in it is almost as if she never existed.
I thought that “Gator Kill” was a solid read but lacking the drive that “Dead on the Island” had.
I got the feeling that the author was coasting.
3 Stars.

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

His P I days are over, content to do some house painter. Till a family friend wants answer who skin an alligator and left on display. Truman is once again finding trouble, dead bodies.. A good second book in this series. The audio is good and adds to this story. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second Truman Smith mystery.
Smith, a P.I. living in Galveston, takes a case an hour west of Houston.
Someone shot a gator on Fred Benton's land and he wants to know who.
Turns out many strange things are happening, and Smith has his hands full.
I enjoyed this second story in the series.
Crider was a Hell of a writer.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast pace to answer. PI Smith tells about being hired by friend who owns vast swamp, murders, being shot at, chased by truck. Typos 10.7 Lives way .. country.DELETE 11.2 He blonde *Her $She sad * said 12.1 your *you 14.8 shot* shoot 14.16 fred* Fred 17.2 tired * tried

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, quick read about a retired(ish) private investigator who is hired to find out who killed a gator on someone's property. Lots of suspects and a twist that I never saw coming, along with a "how the heck is he going to get out of this one?" moment or two.

[Carol Hurtig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truman has a way of getting into trouble without even trying. Out of boredom, he takes a job to find out who killed an alligator and stumbles onto something much bigger and dangerous.

[Ed Napiorkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another interesting audiobook I listened to during my daily commute. Particularly liked the drawling texan style voice of the narrator on this one. As to the story an enjoyable read, builds a little on the earlier volume but a stand alone story that doesn't require you to have read the first in the series. Plot is sufficiently complicated to keep you interested and the majority of characters are engaging and believable. As to the ending, well without spoilers I was just a little disappointed as it follows too closely to the style of the first in the series. Lost happening in quick succession and despite significant physical hardship the hero pulls through. Still and enjoyable read and I'll follow the hero for another journey.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOTTOM LINE: #2 Truman Smith, occasional PI, Galveston. A cranky elderly man wants to find out who shot a gator on his land just when Tru is becoming bored with house-painting and decides to take the job. Nicely dark "rural sleuthing" ensues, through swamps and extremely small towns, turning up dead bodies and multiple troubles for Tru and his short-tempered friend Fred, who simply wants to shoot whoever killed his gator.

Another wry journey through PI-dom with the laid-back Tru, whose self-deprecating sensibilities sometimes go maudlin, but usually are quite entertaining. Strong plotting, wonderful characters, good pace.

[Bill Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a surprise treasure. I stumbled on this at the library with no expectations. It was a good old fashioned Florida who done it. Good

[Lesha Symons Ervin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as his first book.