Customer Reviews

The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.)

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.

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.

"The Blight Way" is a nice, easygoing story with a good sense of place, engaging characters, and an acceptably involving mystery to unravel. I also enjoyed the relationship between Sheriff Bo tully and his grizzled father, the former sheriff of the town: their primary way of expressing affection for each other is to exchange jibes and criticism, though they both know they don't really mean it. A variety of colorful supporting characters, the kind that often turn up in rural, small-town mysteries, lend additional entertainment value.

Just be warned... the flavor and pace of "The Blight Way" reminded me of those old "Motel 6" radio commercials with the guy with the friendly drawl telling you "don't worry, we'll leave the light on for ya," as the country fiddle plays in the background. In other words, the book is relaxing, inoffensive, but a little corny. But that was okay with me. Though I usually gravitate to grittier, edgier fare when I pick up a mystery or thriller, a book like this, for me at least, is a nice change of pace from time to time.

When I finished reading "The Bight Way" by Patrick McManus, I quickly went online to see of there were any more Sheriff Bo Tulley mysteries out there. Unfortunately not yet, but I'll be watching. It was a quick -- one long evening read, with a set of real-to-life characters and situations that made me laugh aloud many times. The mystery plot involving rural folks in a current-day Idaho town is lively and keeps you interested, as does the humerous dialog which McManus is so well known for in his non-fiction writings.

It takes a village, all right, but I won't ruin it for you to tell you why. The problem I had with THE BLIGHT WAY was with me and not with the author. I am so used to reading McManus nearly every month in Outdoor Life, that it took me awhile to forget the inept, lovable outdoorsman persona of McManus, and focus on a newer, more challenging other voice.

This is not a complicated novel. Anyone can read it in a few hours. It is a wonderful diversion, a decent murder mystery, and I really expect it to be made into a tv movie, perhaps with Kevin Bacon playing Sheriff Bo Tully and Patrick McManus himself playing Pap, Bo Tully's father.

If you want to get away from the evening news, the price of oil, the serious in-depth stories of the meaningless and superficial, this is the book to read. Find a nice, quiet place, turn off most of the lights, get comfortable, and get lost in the town of Blight, where the best restaurant in town fries everything, where the mob is muscling in, where there is an unlikely CSI team, and the most unusual gas station owner. Not only can you get gas, you can get gassed. But that's telling you more than I should.....

I got hooked on Patrick McManus way back with "Never sniff a gift fish", and I now own them all, but I was concerned that a murder mystery might not appeal to me like his other works. Boy was I wrong! Same comical style, some new characters, and the sheriff is really ole Patrick McManus himself, just like the older books he wrote. I can't wait for the next one to get to my home, and it is being shipped now. If you liked his work before, you'll love his new books.

A great mystery combined with McManus' home spun wit and wisdom. How can it fail? Tulley has little concern for the letter of the law, but he metes out a rough-hewn justice for the residents of Blight.

I hope another Bo Tulley book is coming soon!

This book is great, as are all the other books written by Patrick McManus. One reason I think his books are so good is because I have had the same, or very similar, things happen to me in the great outdoors.

This book is more of a mystery. It combines humor with mystery for a great story. I only wish McManus' books were more frequent.

I have read many of Pat's humor books and this one really surprised me. It truly was a great mystery novel. I ended up finishing it pretty quickly because it was interesting, suspensefull, and I was surprised at the end. Now I'm looking forward to a whole new McManus type of books. I think I will pre-order the one coming out in Mar 07.