Lone Star Sleuths
An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction
Texas has always staked a large claim on the nation's imagination, and its mystery literature is no exception. Hundreds of crime novels are set within the state, most of which have been published in the last twenty years. From the highest point atop the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas to the Piney Woods of East Texas, from the High Plains of the Panhandle to the subtropical climate of the lower Rio Grande Valley, mystery writers have covered every aspect of Texas's extraordinarily diverse geography.
The first book to emphasize the wealth of Texas's mystery writers and the images they convey of the state's wide range of regions and cultures, Lone Star Sleuths is a noteworthy introduction not only to the literary genre but also to a sense of Texas as a place in fiction. Celebrating a genre that has expanded to include women and an increasing diversity of cultures, the book features selections from the works of such luminaries as Kinky Friedman and Mary Willis Walker, lesser-known stars in the making, and even some outsiders like Nevada Barr and Carolyn Hart who have succumbed to the allure of the state's weather, geography, and colorful history.
Lone Star Sleuths captures the sense of place that distinguishes much of the great literature set in Texas, and is a must-read for mystery lovers.
Bill Cunningham is a San Marcos, Texas, public relations consultant and former Chairman of the Texas State University System Board of Regents.
Steven L. Davis is the Assistant Curator of the Southwestern Writers Collection Texas State University-San Marcos.
Rollo K. Newsom is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Folklore Emeritus at Texas State University-San Marcos.
- Introduction
- Part 1: El Paso and West Texas
- Nevada Barr, Track of the Cat
- Jim Sanderson, Camino del Rio
- Nancy Herndon, Time Bombs
- James Crumley, Bordersnakes
- Allana Martin, Death of a Healing Woman
- Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me
- Part 2: Austin and the Hill Country
- Steven Saylor, A Twist at the End
- Jesse Sublett, The Rock Critic Murders
- Ben Rehder, Buck Fever
- Susan Wittig Albert, Rosemary Remembered
- Kinky Friedman, Armadillos and Old Lace
- Part 3: Houston and the Gulf Coast
- David L. Lindsey, Heat from Another Sun
- Neal Barrett, Jr., Interstate Dreams
- Ken Grissom, Drowned Man's Key
- Gaylord Dold, Bay of Sorrows
- Part 4: Dallas, Fort Worth, and the Panhandle
- Doug J. Swanson, Umbrella Man
- A. W. Gray, Prime Suspect
- D. R. Meredith, The Sheriff and the Panhandle Murders
- Part 5: East Texas
- Joe R. Lansdale, The Two-Bear Mambo
- Walter Mosley, Gone Fishin'
- Susan Rogers Cooper, Funny as a Dead Relative
- Part 6: San Antonio and South Texas
- Carolyn Hart, Death on the River Walk
- Rick Riordan, The Last King of Texas
- J. S. Borthwick, The Case of the Hook-billed Kites
- Rolando Hinojosa, Partners in Crime
- Part 7: Small Town Texas
- Bill Crider, Winning Can Be Murder
- Paula Boyd, Hot Enough to Kill
- Jeff Abbott, Do Unto Others
- Clay Reynolds, Agatite
- Part 8: End of the Road
- Mary Willis Walker, The Red Scream
