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Mad Dog & Englishman #1
Mad Dog & Englishman
"A suspenseful tale, told from the title to the end with wit and warmth by a very talented writer." ―Nancy Pickard, award-winning author Summer in Benteen County, Kansas, is a season possessed of all the gentle subtlety of an act of war. Winter, of course, is no better, but remembrance of its frosts and blizzards and winds that begin to suck away your life before you walk a dozen steps has grown faint by the early hours of a Sunday morning in late June. While some try to sleep, and Sheriff English and his ex-wife try sex, the Reverend Peter Simms takes an early walk in the park and encounters someone counting coup. When the Sheriff's part-Cheyenne brother, Mad Dog, arrives to meditate, he finds the Reverend's mutilated corpse. Mad Dog is the obvious suspect and he begins to hang out in the town jail while Sheriff English widens his net. English picks up several suspicious characters, and an increasingly dark history for the Simms family. The case grows stormier, and so does the weather. As a tornado gathers to hurl its fury on the hapless town, the fury of the killer rises to meet it.
190 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2000
17 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Hayes
12 books13 followersJ.M. "Mike" Hayes has been an anthropologist, an archaeologist, and has supervised youth camping, sports, an recreation programs. He was born and raised on the flat earth of central Kansas his Mad Dog & Englishman mysteries take place. He graduated from Wichita State University and did post graduate work at the University of Arizona. He makes his home in Tucson (site of his first novel, The Grey Pilgrim) with his wife, several computers, 4000 or so books, and a small herd of German Shepherds.
Series:
* Mad Dog and Englishman Mystery
Series:
* Mad Dog and Englishman Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 6, 2013
Kansas, really? This murder mystery is set in Kansas, and not a city either. It is set in the plains of Kansas, so flat and dry a stand of trees rises like a heat mirage and the wind is an ever-constant companion. J.M. Hayes, Arizona resident, grew up in Kansas and has managed to escape our notice for a long time. He is possessed of a keen eye, a coruscating sense of humor, a literate pen, and a devilish sense of the absurd. When reading this story I had to slow down. He is liable to turn suddenly in a direction I hadn’t anticipated.
The group of characters Hayes created stand on their own, and from this novel he has created a series. I liked the unfamiliar setting and the doses of history and local culture. He has teenager-speak and cadence just right and a lame police station with plenty of questionable characters and pistols full of blanks.
What I didn’t particularly like was mixing the absurd with the painful reality of the mystery: dismemberment murders by slashing razor blades, rampant sexual abuse of entire families, chasing down a black man simply because he is black, little-old-lady suicide by shotgun—I mean, really, is this meant to be funny? It is hardly the stuff of a lighthearted read.
Take the first suspect, for instance. A man, a reverend in fact, is slashed and genitally dismembered in the morning. When the town deputy goes to his house to look for clues, he happens across an unfamiliar black man, who he immediately decides must be the killer. He chases him across field and river, finally cornering him in an old barn, only to discover he is a professor of history at a nearby university whose car had broken down on the highway several miles out of town. Funny? It is meant to be, judging from the telling and the character of the deputy. It is edgy. True-to-life? Unfortunately. The reverend, we learn later, is a child molester. Unfortunately, we know this could also be true-to-life. We sense the author using a razor on us for our societal ills.
The setting in the fields of Kansas make it logical and perhaps necessary, I suppose, to place the final scenes in a grain silo, necessitating this paragraph in the middle of mayhem:
I’d like to have another look at the books this author has written. There are many things about this book that indicate the author is a thoughtful, learned man with a deep vein of humor and a clear eye for grim realities. And the setting and characters are unique. I am reluctant to pass up the chance to use my new knowledge of grain silos on another of his quirky mysteries.
The group of characters Hayes created stand on their own, and from this novel he has created a series. I liked the unfamiliar setting and the doses of history and local culture. He has teenager-speak and cadence just right and a lame police station with plenty of questionable characters and pistols full of blanks.
What I didn’t particularly like was mixing the absurd with the painful reality of the mystery: dismemberment murders by slashing razor blades, rampant sexual abuse of entire families, chasing down a black man simply because he is black, little-old-lady suicide by shotgun—I mean, really, is this meant to be funny? It is hardly the stuff of a lighthearted read.
Take the first suspect, for instance. A man, a reverend in fact, is slashed and genitally dismembered in the morning. When the town deputy goes to his house to look for clues, he happens across an unfamiliar black man, who he immediately decides must be the killer. He chases him across field and river, finally cornering him in an old barn, only to discover he is a professor of history at a nearby university whose car had broken down on the highway several miles out of town. Funny? It is meant to be, judging from the telling and the character of the deputy. It is edgy. True-to-life? Unfortunately. The reverend, we learn later, is a child molester. Unfortunately, we know this could also be true-to-life. We sense the author using a razor on us for our societal ills.
The setting in the fields of Kansas make it logical and perhaps necessary, I suppose, to place the final scenes in a grain silo, necessitating this paragraph in the middle of mayhem:
"Municipalities tend to have the larger elevators, and it was with this hope in mind that the beast of Buffalo Springs was built. It was 408 feet in length, 48 feet wide, and 90 feet high at the roof, or 110 feet at the roof of the head house. It was a monolith, formed by one continuous pour of concrete that took almost two weeks and involved 250 workers. It contained 36 circular bins, 17 star bins and 35 outer bins, so that only one empty space between the work floor and the distribution floor was unavailable to store grain. That space contained the preferred route for humans to travel to the head house and the distributing floor. The fastest, if not necessarily the safest, was by way of a pulley in the head house and was driven by an electric motor on the work floor. On an adjacent wall there was a runged ladder, positioned in case of a power failure or failure of the mechanism. There was also a circular metal staircase in that unused bin, the safest route, but a slow and tiring one….The fourth and last way to and from the top…"You get my point I think. Too many words? It’s kind of interesting, but…perhaps we could have learned something about silos before the events in the final chapter required us to use our knowledge.
I’d like to have another look at the books this author has written. There are many things about this book that indicate the author is a thoughtful, learned man with a deep vein of humor and a clear eye for grim realities. And the setting and characters are unique. I am reluctant to pass up the chance to use my new knowledge of grain silos on another of his quirky mysteries.
October 27, 2019
Very funny, every good and well-written.
July 6, 2011
First Line: Summer in Benteen County, Kansas, is a season possessed of all the gentle subtlety of an act of war.
When Sheriff English's part-Cheyenne brother, Mad Dog, arrives in the park to meditate, he finds the mutilated body of Reverend Peter Sims, and the entire county is set on its ear. Benteen County is sparsely populated. Everyone knows everyone else's business. Sheriff English has never had to investigate a homicide, even the coroner (who's been on the job for over seventeen years) has never had to deal with a murder victim. So it's important that they do everything right.
Since Mad Dog is the natural prime suspect, Sheriff English has to not only look for suspicious characters, he has to delve into the history of the Simms family, which is very dark indeed. More murders seem almost inevitable-- just like that tornado that's on the horizon.
Hayes brings small town Kansas to life and doesn't put a foot wrong with his cast of characters. Sheriff English's ex-wife is a teacher, and they have a mouthy teenage daughter. Although they're divorced, they can't seem to keep their hands off each other-- which is something the entire town knows.
There's also the incompetent police officer who got his job through nepotism. He can't use his handcuffs because his kid lost the key and he hasn't got the replacement yet. The dispatcher is good at her job, but she's also Gossip Central. The guy who lives behind the police station keeps planting roses in the parking lot and then has fits when the police run over them. Anyone who's ever lived in a small town recognizes these folks.
The identity of the killer and the reason behind the murders were a bit obvious to me, but that didn't matter so much because I truly enjoyed getting to know this corner of Kansas and the entire cast of characters. This first book has set me up perfectly, and I can't wait to continue with the series.
When Sheriff English's part-Cheyenne brother, Mad Dog, arrives in the park to meditate, he finds the mutilated body of Reverend Peter Sims, and the entire county is set on its ear. Benteen County is sparsely populated. Everyone knows everyone else's business. Sheriff English has never had to investigate a homicide, even the coroner (who's been on the job for over seventeen years) has never had to deal with a murder victim. So it's important that they do everything right.
Since Mad Dog is the natural prime suspect, Sheriff English has to not only look for suspicious characters, he has to delve into the history of the Simms family, which is very dark indeed. More murders seem almost inevitable-- just like that tornado that's on the horizon.
Hayes brings small town Kansas to life and doesn't put a foot wrong with his cast of characters. Sheriff English's ex-wife is a teacher, and they have a mouthy teenage daughter. Although they're divorced, they can't seem to keep their hands off each other-- which is something the entire town knows.
There's also the incompetent police officer who got his job through nepotism. He can't use his handcuffs because his kid lost the key and he hasn't got the replacement yet. The dispatcher is good at her job, but she's also Gossip Central. The guy who lives behind the police station keeps planting roses in the parking lot and then has fits when the police run over them. Anyone who's ever lived in a small town recognizes these folks.
The identity of the killer and the reason behind the murders were a bit obvious to me, but that didn't matter so much because I truly enjoyed getting to know this corner of Kansas and the entire cast of characters. This first book has set me up perfectly, and I can't wait to continue with the series.
April 29, 2013
*Warning my review may spoil you*
Nothing ever happens in Benteen County, Kansas. It's a small town where everyone knows each others business. So when the reverend turns up being murdered it's a little bit of a shock to sheriff English. A whirlwind things and information happens afterwords. From more deaths, a kidnapping, a history of sexual molestation coming out, hidden and mistaken identities, and more.
Mixed thoughts when it comes to this book. It was an okay read nothing spectacular, at least for me. Kind of just left me feeling kind of meh.
Nothing ever happens in Benteen County, Kansas. It's a small town where everyone knows each others business. So when the reverend turns up being murdered it's a little bit of a shock to sheriff English. A whirlwind things and information happens afterwords. From more deaths, a kidnapping, a history of sexual molestation coming out, hidden and mistaken identities, and more.
Mixed thoughts when it comes to this book. It was an okay read nothing spectacular, at least for me. Kind of just left me feeling kind of meh.
April 4, 2014
First in a series set in a small town in Kansas, features divorced sheriff English and his half-brother Mad Dog, both of whom are perhaps one-quarter Cheyenne. This heritage features in the story but sometimes with tries-too-hard humor. I like the characters. The mystery of who murdered, scalped & dismembered a local preacher is bizarre. Also a secondary story of the sheriff's daughter who looks just like a girl who has just arrived in town with her mother. Short and fast reading.
October 29, 2015
First in a series of murder mysteries. Mysteries take place in a small town in Kansas. Mad Dog & Englishman are brothers. In this novel, they work together to solve several horrendous murders. The solving of the murders blended Indian spiritualism with history and modern culture. It was very entertaining.
September 10, 2012
I could not put this book done! The brother of the sheriff of a small Kansas town finds the mutilated body of someone in the restroom of a park in town. The body is so badly damaged that no one can tell who it is until after the town doctor/coroner has cleaned it up. The strange circumstances of the death are only the beginning of the day's troubles and discoveries. Highly recommend this book.
September 18, 2012
Some will enjoy this book due to its mix of mystery, mysticism, life's reality in a small town in Kansas. I just did not enjoy the plot but do not want to give anything away with a spoiler. Good depiction of ah, FLAT Desolate cold or hot Kansas. haha
April 17, 2015
A mystery every bit as good as those by the hugely popular authors and maybe better. The characters are wonderful though admittedly Wynn is a bit of an exaggerated stereotype. I would definitely read another book featuring Mad Dog and Englishman. I liked them both immensely.
October 29, 2013
Stumbled across this one and I'm glad I did. The description of rural Kansas on a hot summer day was terrific as the backdrop to a mostly solid mystery - one plot twist was a bit of a stretch. The brothers, English and Mad Dog, were interesting characters and I'll look for more in this series.
June 17, 2014
The screwed-up sheriff and his family lend humorous to some of the serious issues at play in this mystery. The main problem with this story is that it dragged in places, but I did like that the author seemed to know the area of Kansas used in the setting.
January 6, 2009
You don't want to miss this author. Wonderful charaters, plots, twists, turns and unique endings! Well defined sense of place for the middle of Kansas.
June 6, 2009
This is one of the best mysteries that I have read in a long time.
May 2, 2010
I hope to read the rest of this series.
August 29, 2013
4 stars
Funny and gruesome (sometimes too gruesome) but well done. Sadly, tons of typos and misused words.
Funny and gruesome (sometimes too gruesome) but well done. Sadly, tons of typos and misused words.
July 1, 2011
Loved the characters and the weird happenings. Am reading the whole series.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews