Like most of the rest of Texas, Blacklin County is being overrun with feral hogs that destroy farmland and crops. There’s hardly any defense against these pests, but they haven’t been the cause of murder.  Until now. A mother and son have opened an animal shelter in the county and they welcome even feral hogs.  Someone’s threatened them by slaughtering one of their animals and leaving it on their doorstep.  Then Sheriff Dan Rhodes and Deputy Ruth Grady stumble across a dead man while searching the woods for a convenience store robber.The investigation into the man’s death is complicated by angry hog hunters, a crusading talk-show host, a bounty hunter named Hoss, conflicts with the county commissioners, and the reappearance of Rapper and Nellie, the inept two-man motorcycle gang that’s caused Rhodes considerable trouble in the past.  By the time he’s sorted through all the clues, Rhodes discovers that quite a few people aren’t who they seemed to be, including those he’s known for a long time. And some of them are killers.Award-winning author Bill Crider has written an endearing and consistently entertaining series, and The Wild Hog Murders offers a fresh new chance to get in on the fun.

Dr. Sally Good, chair of the Department of English at Hughes Community College has learned how to cope with the many minor disasters and a couple of major ones, including a murder, that have cropped up since her tenure. Right now, however, her only worry is about her own behavior. She's just violated one of the major rules for department chairs - never date the staff. She hadn't actually dated Jack Neville, but she had said yes when he asked her to go out with him.It's beginning to look as though Sally may not have to worry about that. Her intended escort has come under suspicion of murdering one of the college trustees, and could be arrested any time now. The good news is that the evidence is shaky and Neville is far from the only person around who wouldn't mind seeing Bostic's obit in the county paper. The man is a used-car salesman of questionable morals and an antediluvian who is against educating or even feeding the men in the local prison, where the...

Truman "Tru" Smith is a PI who'd rather be reading Faulkner or fishing on his beloved Galveston Island than solving mysteries, so when his friend Dino asks for help, Tru at first demurs. With some not-very-subtle arm twisting, Dino finally persuades Tru to investigate the disappearance of Old Harry, a homeless vagrant whom Dino and his family have "adopted."

After he failed to find his missing sister, whose remains finally turned up in a bag in an overgrown field, Texas PI Truman Smith retired to become a housepainter on Galveston Island. But when an alligator is killed and its carcass left on display on a family friend's property, Tru is persuaded to search for the culprit.

The local community college and an antique dealer team up to have a workshop for artists. One local man, Burt Collins, isn't fond of the art, and he isn't fond of having the artists in town. Sheriff Dan Rhodes is called to the antique store because Collins has been accused of vandalizing some paintings. When Rhodes arrives, two men are restraining Collins. But before Rhodes can take Collins into custody, a near riot breaks out. Rhodes gets the situation under control with the help of college math instructor and wannabe cop Seepy Benton.Later that day Rhodes has to help the county animal control officer round up some runaway donkeys, and that evening there's a robbery at a local convenience store. After looking into the robbery, Rhodes goes by to see Collins and talk to him about the vandalism. Collins isn't talking because he's been killed, his head bashed in with a bust of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Rhodes is faced with other problems, too: a naked woman in a roadside park...

The piano man has one rule: Don't get involved. Just play the songs. But can live by that rule when he witnesses a horrific crime? And what price will he pay if he breaks it?

Someone in Blacklin County, Texas, is being disrespectful of the dead, and Sheriff Dan Rhodes must put a stop to it. First, there's the matter of the bodies at Ballinger's Funeral Home and the apparent misplacing of their valuables; the bereaved are beside themselves. There'd best be immediate action or the bell could toll again, this time for Sheriff Dan's reputation as the guardian of justice and decency in these parts. As if that weren't enough to contend with, yet another body tumbles into Sheriff Dan's path—out of a closet this time, and trussed up in most unsavory fashion. More disrespect, but obviously a separate case from the funeral home. Or is it? Meanwhile, with Hack Jensen and his sidekick Lawton (more comic than cop team) minding the jail, thank heavens there's Deputy Ruth Grady for backup. On the personal front, his fiancée, Ivy Daniel, is supportive as always, but a mystery rears its perplexing head here as well—namely, will Sheriff Dan propose or will he not? Tough questions on every side, and guess who's expected to come up with the answers before he gets carried away by Death On the Move?

Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He’s not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest.Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it’s up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town.

It was the cat who "told" Sheriff Dan Rhodes that something was wrong. It ran into the house when he opened the door. His wife, Ivy, recognized the cat as belonging to their neighbor and told Dan to go check on the widow--Helen Harris never let the cat out of the house.When Dan finds Helen's body on her kitchen floor, there is nothing to indicate that her death wasn't an accident. But Ivy's words ring in his head. Why was the cat out? Helen had been active in a number of women's groups, one of which was the OWLS, the Older Women's Literary Society. She and some other women would also venture out with digging tools to look for ancient booty in the lands around the town. They didn't usually find much, but every now and then someone would dig up a coin or a piece of jewelry with potential. Could this have been the reason for Helen's death?The investigation becomes more complicated as Rhodes learns that she actually had a number of suitors. Also, a...

While investigating the theft of a set of false teeth from Lloyd Bobbit, a resident of the Sunny Dale Nursing Home, Sheriff Dan Rhodes finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation after Bobbit turns up dead

Someone in Blacklin County, Texas, is being disrespectful of the dead, and Sheriff Dan Rhodes must put a stop to it. There's the matter of the bodies at Ballinger's Funeral Home and the apparent misplacing of their valuables; the bereaved are beside themselves. There'd best be immediate action or the bell could toll again, this time for Sheriff Dan's reputation as the guardian of justice.

One hot summer morning, big, tough Bud Turley brings an enormous tooth into the Blacklin County police station and asks Sheriff Dan Rhodes to keep it for him until the paleontologist from the community college comes up to examine it. Turley insists that the tooth is proof that Bigfoot roams the woods---unless it is from a prehistoric animal, which Rhodes thinks is more likely. But Turley's buddy Larry Colley has maintained for years that he's seen Bigfoot. Most inhabitants of Blacklin County have avoided those woods, but Colley and Bud are at home there, and Turley is ready to crow over his find. However, the next day his body is found in the forest, leaving Larry Colley more certain than ever that a monster is lurking there. Dan Rhodes is not sure that Bud's death is the work of an "ordinary" criminal. And he wouldn't be too surprised if somehow feral hogs were involved; Rhodes knows what many Texans don't---it is estimated that at least a million and a half feral...

Ray Storey plays the role of Kit Carson in Col. A. J. Mahaffey's Authentic Medicine Show, wearing a fringed outfit and doing trick shooting to help the colonel push his Miracle Oil and Indian Vitality Pills. Storey's using his job with the show to travel around the country to look for the men who killed his parents, and of course there's a showdown in the end. Also accompanying the show are an alcoholic doctor and the colonel's daughter, who plays the Indian Maiden known as Banuj Ta-Ta. She does an exotic dance to help push the Vitality Pills.