Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Noteworthy Reads: ANSWER DEATH (a Dan Spalding mystery) by Richard Prosch

I've written here many times about the work of Spur Award-winning author Richard Prosch. Most of that has been to herald his work in the Western genre—particularly his stories and novellas featuring Holt County Deputy Sheriff Whit Bannon as well as his terrific series featuring John Coburn, the Perigrene. Throughout, however, Richard has written several stories in other genres ranging from horror to contemporary crime to the wonderful YA turn-of-the-century adventures featuring Jo Harper.
 
Most recently Richard has focused his talents on the crime/mystery field with a short story and a novella featuring Dan Spalding, a former state cop who has taken over running his late brother's used record store in Ozark City. But Spalding's instincts remain sharp from his years on the force and he seems to have a knack for getting involved in sometimes-dangerous situations where those instincts continue to come in handy.
 
I had the pleasure of reading the first Dan Spalding novel, ANSWER DEATH (and also “Spalding's Groove”, the Spalding short story that preceded it) and at that time provided the following blurb:

"ANSWER DEATH is about as slick and clever a murder mystery as you're likely to find. With an original setting, an engaging protagonist, and the lean, distinct prose of author Prosch fueling it, it is a winner that I hope is the start of a series we will be seeing plenty more of. Don't wait—check it out now!"

Really not much more I can add to that. You can get a further plot synopsis on Amazon—which I urge you to do, along with then going ahead and purchasing the book (as well as the short story). Both are available on Kindle and the novel also in a print edition.
You can't go wrong with anything written by Prosch, and if your tastes run to quasi-hardboiled mysteries with a laid back protagonist channeling shades of Travis McGee, then you're definitely going to want to make the acquaintance of Dan Spalding, too.

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