Book description
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 some like 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 begins to hang out in the town jail while
Sheriff English widens his net and picks up not only several suspicious
characters, but an increasingly dark history for the Simms family. The
case grows stormier. Soon, 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. J. M. (Mike) Hayes has written just two books. His first, The Grey
Pilgrim, is a thriller based on the last American Indian uprising in
Arizona, which happened in 1940. The story was published in hardcover as
a Walker mystery in 1990, and promptly went out of print. Now, a decade
later, Poisoned Pen Press has released Hayes' second work, Mad Dog and
Englishman, in a slender, well-packaged hardcover, along with a trade
paperback reprint of The Grey Pilgrim. I bought both books based on
small promotional blurbs given in the Poisoned Pen's monthly newsletter.
I take purchasing chances like that on occasion. When they pay off, it's
usually with dividends. I mean, how can you not like a book that begins:
"Summer in Benteen County, Kansas, is a season possessed of all the
gently subtlety of an act of war." One immediately envisions a
small-town, rural environment where the air hangs heavily, buzzing flies
doppler in and out of hearing range, and there is a general sense of
lethargy extending across the town square to all the cars parked in
front of the cafe. A perfect setting upon which to impose the violence
and disruption of the mutilation murder of a local preacher. Author
Hayes advances his scenario using a variety of well-drawn character
viewpoints. The novel's eponymous Englishman is local sheriff, caught
off-guard by unexpected bloodshed, further stunned by the kidnapping of
his daughter. Sheriff English's brother is Mad Dog, whose nickname stems
from his eccentric mannerisms, and a penchant for performing mystical
Indian ceremonies. Mad Dog sets himself up as a candidate for arrest by
discovering the remains of a killer's wrath. Another fine supporting
player is Mrs. Kraus, a feisty grandmother-type who doubles as police
dispatcher, and whose occasional lapse of radio contact complicates
lines of communication. The author's powerful voice belies his
relatively small body of work. Hayes writes with assurance, sprinkling
his story with an abundance of black humor and a strong sense of place.
He isn't afraid to describe a bloody body, provide a discourse on child
abuse, or present a bucolic nonchalance over individual sexual
proclivities. He even throws in a few eff words for spice. If there is a
downside to this book, it comes at the finale where he seems unsure how
to wrap matters up in a tidy package. Poisoned Pen Press came into
existence in 1996, as a response to the growing number of mystery
authors being dropped by their publishing companies. Barbara and husband
Robert Rosenwald are now responsible for 20 and 30 releases each year,
and the number is steadily increasing. Their press runs are small, but
so are their costs - estimated break-even point is 1,000 copies. I have
no idea how many copies of Mad Dog were printed, but there ought to be
enough to start a word of mouth campaign in support of this fine book. I
applaud Robert and Barbara for their skill at identifying J. M. Hayes as
an author people need to read. J. M. Hayes was born and raised on the
flat earth of central Kansas where Prairie Gothic takes place. He
graduated from Wichita State University and did another three years of
post graduate work at the University of Arizona. He shares a home in
Tucson, AZ with his wife, several computers, four thousand or so books,
and a small herd of German Shepherds.
