The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Mystery Masters) [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Patrick F. McManus (Author), Charles Leggett (Narrator)

Book Description

Series: Mystery Masters | Publication Date: February 1, 2006

Bo Tully is the sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, a place where "law enforcement" is mostly picking up country boys who’ve downed a few too many beers. But he gets a call for a different kind of pick-up: an ex-con phones with the news that there’s a corpse draped over his fence. Soon Tully’s caught up in a mess, with dead L.A. drug dealers turning up and local folks disappearing. When bullets start flying, Tully has to brush off his sheriff’s hat and do some real investigating — fast.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Prolific, popular outdoorsman and humorist McManus (The Bear in the Attic) departs from his trademark shaggy-dog stories with this novel set in current-day Idaho, the first in a new mystery series starring Blight County sheriff Bo Tully. Single, slimmed-down from the Atkins diet and highly interested in the ladies, Bo is blessedly unconcerned with the niceties of search warrants, suspect rights or any other impediment to his effective style of law enforcement. On the 75th birthday of his father, Eldon "Pap" Tully, former Blight County sheriff, a dead body turns up at the ranch of a family of ex-cons. Bo decides a murder investigation would be the perfect birthday present for Pap. The dead man is from Los Angeles, as are the next two corpses Bo and Pap find at the scene of a heavy firepower ambush—not Blight County's usual low-rent crime. Behind his hayseed cop exterior, Bo is smart, sneaky and relentless. Add lots of quirky suspects, criss-crossing motives and artery-clogging meals at Dave's House of Fry, and McManus delivers a brisk, hilarious smalltown cop mystery. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Patrick McManus is a treasure." -- The Atlantic

"Everybody should read Patrick McManus." -- The New York Times Book Review

"A style that brings to mind Mark Twain, Art Buchwald, and Garrison Keillor." -- People --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: AudioGO; Unabridged edition (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157270537X
• ISBN-13: 978-1572705371
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrick F. McManus is a renowned outdoor writer, humorist, and longtime columnist for Outdoor Life and Field & Stream. His most recent books are the Sheriff Bo Tully mysteries Avalanche and The Blight Way. He is the author of many other books, including such runaway New York Times bestsellers as The Grasshopper Trap, The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw, and Real Ponies Don't Go Oink! He lives in Spokane, Washington.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Stompin' Mud Puddles, March 3, 2006

By 

Amanda Alexie "Amanda" (Spokane, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Hardcover)

You've gotta like a sheriff who still gets guilty pleasure from stomping frozen mud puddles and tries his best to avoid his ex-es. One of the funniest mysteries I have read in a long time. Not as edgy as Carl Hiaasen or Chris Moore, so more appropriate for us middle-aged folks. Like any new series, I expect this one will only get better as McManus writes more and more of them. A wacky, wonderful read. (By the way, a compilation of more humor essays is coming out this fall.)

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit different than Pat McManus' rip-roaringly funny outdoor essays., February 23, 2006

By 

James E. Needham (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Hardcover)

I must admit that I was expecting more of his semi-autobiographical essays in a fictional mystery format. The Blight Way, however, doesn't go for the belly buster on every page. There is much humor in the book, but it's toned down a notch from what we're used to reading from Pat. I did find myself coming to care about the characters, so I'm sure I'll stick out the series for a while. Mr. McManus did come up with an elaborate mystery that comes together quite nicely at the end, but the story takes a back seat to the banter between the main characters. In fact, I wish he had flushed out more of the mystery earlier in the book. There's at least one instance I recall of Sheriff Tully getting some important information that the author doesn't share with us. I admit that always puts me off a bit when I'm reading a mystery -- I feel like I'm not being given a fair shot to solve it. In the end, though, the characters are enjoyable, and I'm curious what happens next to Bo Tully of Blight, Idaho.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking on The Blight Side, April 6, 2006

By 

Ray White, Author "Want to get published? Re... (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery (Hardcover)

Only Blight County Sheriff Bo Tully would give his seventy-five year-old father, Pap, a triple homicide for a birthday present. And only Pap, an ex-Sheriff of Blight County, would be grateful.

I loved the ingenious scam and how Patrick tied everything up neatly at the end. Bo occassionally sounds a bit like Robert Parker's, Spenser, but that's a plus as far as I'm concerned and Pap is priceless.

Great characters combined with beautiful settings, an involving plot line and humorous dialogue to make this book a gem.

I'm recommending it to all my friends -- and to you.