Barbed Wire Noose: A Carl Wilcox Mystery [Hardcover]

Harold Adams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Adams's sixth mystery is expertly plotted, set with its predecessors in the small town of Corden, S.D., during the 1930s. Rugged ex-convict and amateur investigator Carl Wilcox finds widower Arthur Foote hanging from a barbed-wire noose. Living at his parents' hotel, Wilcox questions several people who arrive there for the murdered man's funeral. Foote's daughter Kitty snubs her rich big-city beau and takes the detective to bed, where, when they're not making love, he learns about Foote family secrets. Kitty's brother Buford (Buff) is also present, AWOL from the Navy and, Wilcox thinks, possibly guilty of killing his father and another guest at the hotel. Buff is lost in a blizzard that further complicates Wilcox's sleuthing, but he finally solves the crimes, which are linked by an old tragedy. The author's sardonic wit alleviates the novel's essential sadness.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Pr (May 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089296250X
• ISBN-13: 978-0892962501
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,586,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A breakthrough book in the Wilcox series..., January 27, 2005

By 

Peter LaPrade (worcester ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Barbed Wire Noose: A Carl Wilcox Mystery (Hardcover)

Harold Adams's "Barbed Wire Noose" is the best yet of the Wilcox series that I've read. In this story set in a bitter South Dakota winter in the mid 30's, Carl Wilcox temporarily takes over the job of the town cop, Joey, who is ailing with pneumonia. And just before a major blizzard hits Corden, a man named Arthur Foote is found dead with a barbed wire noose around his neck. Carl immediately knows its murder, and he sets about discovering the killer, but his guests, some of whom are suspects, settle in, another man is murdered and Wilcox digs deeper into finding out why. The sadness comes out as motives come to the surface as sons go against their fathers and tragedy divides.