The Errand Boy

by Don Bredes

Every small town has its secrets.

Onetime Boston homicide detective Hector Bellevance is married now and settled on the family farm with his pregnant wife, Wilma, and their strong-willed eleven-year-old daughter, Myra, happily spending his days raising vegetables for the farmers’ market and serving, when needed, as the town’s constable.

But Hector’s fair-weather days suddenly darken when a reckless driver leaves Wilma in a coma, and later, after the unrepentant driver turns up brutally murdered, Hector finds himself a natural suspect in the homicide. When the victim’s father offers to pay Wilma’s medical bills if Hector will find his son’s killer, Hector takes the case–more out of compassion than a desire to clear his own name.

Yet the murder quickly proves more vexing and the motives more twisted than even a town constable could have foreseen. Hector discovers an unsavory secret behind every door, and he is soon caught in a web of sex offenders, backwoods meth addicts, undercover federal agents, Hells Angels, and an international drug cartel.

Just when he’s ready to abandon his sputtering investigation–as the police have angrily demanded–Myra disappears from the hospital while visiting her mother, and Hector knows he cannot rest until he has found her. Everything he loves and lives for is at stake.

337 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2009

About the author

I am a freelance writer of novels, essays, and screenplays and a teacher of writing and contemporary literature. I live in the hills of northern Vermont.

I earned an MFA in Fiction from the University of California at Irvine and an AB in English Composition from Syracuse University. I have been a Wallace Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University, and I've been awarded grants for my fiction by the Vermont Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

My first novel, HARD FEELINGS (Atheneum, 1977), was an American Library Association Best Book in 1977 and a 20th Century-Fox film release in 1982. My published work includes four other novels, MULDOON (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982), and my Hector Bellevance mystery/suspense trilogy, COLD COMFORT (Harmony Books, 2001), THE FIFTH SEASON (Three Rivers Press, 2005), and THE ERRAND BOY (Three Rivers Press, 2009).



My new novel, an edgy young adult fantasy called POLLY AND THE ONE AND ONLY WORLD, will be released in October by Green Writers Press. 

Those who may be interested in my writing may visit my Web site, my Don Bredes page on Facebook, or my Author's Page at Amazon.

I've published short stories, essays, and book reviews in a variety of publications, including "The New York Times Sunday Magazine," "The Los Angeles Times Book Review," and "Paris Review."

Two of my screenplay adaptations have been independently produced and released internationally as feature-length films, "Where the Rivers Flow North," starring Rip Torn and Michael J. Fox, and "A Stranger in the Kingdom," with an ensemble cast including Ernie Hudson and Martin Sheen. They're available on DVD.

When I'm not writing or teaching, I like to cook, garden (mostly vegetables), read, play tennis, hike, birdwatch, fly kites, look at the stars and galaxies, fish for trout, ride my mountain bike, snowshoe, and cross-country ski, as the seasons permit.

Reviews

[Leo Mcmullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Errand Boy is a mystery/crime novel, that was written very well. In this book, a man by the name of Hector Bellevance and his wife Wilma get struck by a car driven by Seb Tuttle (competitor farmer) and sends Wilma to the hospital in a coma. Soon after, Seb Tuttle gets murdered which creates great mystery within the novel. Hector then pursues this murder viciously, trying to serve justice as a town constable but never seems to find the suspect. In the pursuit of Seb’s murderer, most everyone wants Hector to leave the case alone, which is seen when Hectors daughter, Myra is abducted right after their house almost gets fireballed. Amazingly, Myra returned home after the day, appearing just a bit dirty but no damage done. Once back, she heads toward the hospital to visit Wilma with Hugh(family friend), but gets carjacked, taking Myra. Hector then pursues the case as much as he can, but catches the abductors walking with her on a leash. When Hector sees Jimmy, Kandi, and Kurt walking her, he accidentally gains they’re attention, which ends in Hector and Myra escaping, Hector killing Kandi and critically injuring Jimmy. I give this a five, since to me at least, I found the book to be intriguing for the entirety, never really having a bland part. I also believe the story line is very unique, in that multiple conflicts rise out of each other, adding to the story’s complexity rather there being only one main plot.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third Hector Bellevance mystery not only surpasses the two other excellent Bellevance novels, but also manages to transcend the genre. I don't want to dwell on the plot, as I think knowing less about it is worthwhile going in, but suffice it to say that Hector, the tough, vegetable-farming town constable, is now balancing new responsibilities as a father with his responsibilities to his town. Anyone who has read anything by Bredes knows his ability to create interesting characters, and he may have produced his most compelling yet in Myra, Hector's young daughter. Myra is intelligent, head-strong, funny and -- not an easy feat -- utterly believable. Her presence helps to make this novel more character-driven than the first two, in which the twists of the plot occasionally threatened to overwhelm the characters. Here, Bredes has managed to use his characters to drive the story forward, benefiting both the characterization and the plotting. What results is a mystery novel that satisfies as a mystery, but exceeds as an exploration of what it means to be a father, to do good, and to discover and confront one's limits. These are themes often encountered, but rarely have I read anything that manages to balance insight, characterization and storytelling so well. As a follower of the series I want to go back to the first two to revisit Hector's development, but this stands alone as an exemplar of what a mystery novel can be in a talented writer's hands.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book Bredes has written with the main character Hector Bellevance in it, but don't let that keep you from reading it--the story carries itself beautifully. Hector is a cool headed farmer these days, as well as town constable in a small Vermont town, though he was once a big city detective. This comes in handy when, after an auto accident leaves his wife in a comma, Hector finds that there is more than bad driving in the other man's history--a history cut short by being murdered two days later. The path to the answers involves sex offenders, drug dealers, Hell's Angels, federal agents both in the open and undercover, kidnapping, meth labs and a whole bunch of chickens and flies. There are interesting twists and turns and not a whole lot of emotion involved in this hard boiled back country tale of crime and punishment. I think fans of Lee Child's Reacher will especially take a shine to Hector.

[Jeremiah Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not a bad book and in fact I was surprised by how long I was not able to figure out the plot. The problem with the book was the speed of the plot development. The book felt more like a meandering path than a true thriller. When the reader reaches points of true suspense, the setup of the situation made it rather anti-climatic. Overall, I enjoyed the book but I was never on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. Good book but certainly not the page turner type.

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was on okay book. Definately not a page turner for the myster aspect of it. It was beautifully written when he descrbed the scenery. Character develpment was good. I really got the impression that Hector went on this "killer chase" to cope with his wife being in a coma. The book focused more on the emotions of his daughter Myra and the thoughts of Hector more so than the murder itself.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up in Vermont a few weekends ago. Vermont locals and author. I liked the story, well done with likable lead characters. This is 3rd in a series, I found out but stands on its own. I had to think a bit about what the title referred to! LOL But it was a good read.