Fans of Rehder's rollicking debut, Buck Fever
(2002), which was nominated for both Edgar and Lefty awards, will welcome the sequel, an over-the-top tale of sex, mayhem and murder in Texas's hill country. Unlike in most regional mysteries, though, there's little sense of the landscape, and the off-color humor won't be to every taste. A drought has made it open season on the area's thirsty cedar trees, and brush-cutters Emmett Slaton, a 75-year-old rancher, and Sal Mameli, an ex-mafioso in the witness protection program (whose repeated use of "dis," "dat" and "fuhget about it" wears after a while), compete for the business. When a potential buy-out goes sour, Mameli kills Slaton, then sends his son, Vince, to hide the body. Meanwhile, curvaceous eco-activist Inga Mueller has come to Texas to protest hunting and the destruction of the cedar breaks that are home to the endangered red-necked sapsucker. Her unorthodox methods bring her to the attention of game warden John Marlin, who has enough on his hands helping the sheriff look into the shooting of hunter Bert Gammel. Not surprisingly, though, Marlin finds time for Inga. When the chief suspect in Gammel's murder takes a hostage and holes up in the Blanco County jail, it seems nothing more can go wrong. But it does. Readers will get a wild ride, but not a very convincing one. (Sept. 8)
