Customer Reviews

Bone Dry: A Blanco County, Texas, Novel (Game Warden John Marlin, 2)

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Murder and mayhem in the Hill Country? A comedy mystery a hunter could love? A compelling read you'll want to finish in one sitting? "Bone Dry," Ben Rehder's latest novel answers: Yes, yes, and yes.

Witness protection program member Sal Mameli, has been relocated to Blanco County in hopes of avoiding his old "associates." Learning there's big money in cedar clearing, he quickly succumbs to old criminal tendencies. Only this time, Game Warden John Marlin is there to see things don't get out of hand.

Enter a six-foot blonde bombshell activist, bent on saving the Red-necked Sapsucker -- an endangered bird dependent on cedar, and the action begins. While Marlin tries to keep the peace, the murders pile up.

I dove into Bone Dry not knowing what to expect, and surfaced pleasantly surprised. The 339 page yarn grabs and holds your attention, reads quickly, and keeps you laughing -- making it hard to come up for air. Rehder does a good job weaving several action-packed sub-plots into one good story, while avoiding superfluous detail.

"Bone Dry" is Rehder's second mystery novel. His first, "Buck Fever," was nominated for the prestigious Edgar, the murder-mystery writer's Oscar.

An avid hunter from childhood and advertising copywriter for twenty years, Rehder is relatively new to story telling.

"I wrote my first book at 37. I'd always wanted to write a novel, but on what? I was told, write what you know. Well, I know deer hunting and I know the Hill Country, so my choices were obvious."

Asked about advice for aspiring writers, he urges: "Go for it! You'll never know unless you give it a stab. I'm glad I did. I only regret it wasn't sooner."

Rehder pens his tales from a small hilltop cabin in Blanco County. When not writing, he's hunting. "I'll hunt 3-4 days a week during deer season," says Rehder. "Bow and rifle seasons combined, I'm almost burned out by the time it's all over."

Let's hope Rehder doesn't get burned out - on hunting or writing. We'll be worse off if he does.

To any Texan who's picked up a deer rifle - pick up Bone Dry. But be warned, you'll have trouble putting it down.

Blanco County, Texas Game Warden John Martin knows that the opening day of deer hunting season is always a disaster, but this time the hunters come up with a new one. Apparently a six-foot blonde Amazon has wrecked the deer blinds of the locals using an assortment of tricks and devices and which even includes peeing on them. This female ghost even shot up Rodney Bauer's pick-up using the man's 12-gauge that she easily took from the paralyzed man in shock by her beauty.

As John works on his relationship with Nurse Becky, environmentalist Inga Mueller has become an avenging angel. She is dedicated to protecting endangered species from the ravages of the hunters. However, though her victims drive John crazy, he considers her a minor amusing nuisance especially when compared to the rash of corpses that suddenly surface.

Readers who appreciate a strong yet humorous regional police procedural, game warden style, will want to peruse BONE DRY. This is a great tale that leaves the audience laughing at the antics of the secondary cast along side a bemused John that is until the murders start. However, the key to this terrific who-done-it is the mystery is first rate and the characters are fully developed so that the audience receives a fabulous plot that will send newcomers seeking more works from Ben Rehder.

Harriet Klausner

Enjoyable read. I can see how Redher's story telling style is compared to that of Carl Hiaasen. Serious subject matter with a sense of humor. Lots of twists and turns. Realistic plots. Good sense of place; great character building. Hard to put the book down; sorry that the story had to end. Looking forward to reading more from Redher.

I live in the next county east of Blanco County, TX, so I was immediately interested in reading a novel or two by Mr. Rehder when I found out about this series not long ago. But don't think that you have to be a hunting fan (I'm not) to enjoy this type of novel. As some of the newspapers quoted on the jacket say, Rehder is sort of a central Texan version of Carl Hiaasen. There's plenty of serious suspense, temporarily-unsolved murders, and unsavory characters; but there is also a sprinkling of laugh-out-loud humor, clueless buffoons, regional colloquialisms, and a few sexual escapades.
I think sometimes your enjoyment of a book depends on the mood you're in, but for whatever reasons, I loved it, and had a hard time putting it down. I read Rehder's first novel, 'Buck Fever', last year, and although I certainly liked it well enough to want to pick up another novel by him, I think this one was better. Lots of fun - more fun than some other novels I've recently read in this same general category. Read it! (And no, Mr. Rehder didn't pay me to say any of these things :^).
I will definitely be reading more novels by Mr. Rehder!

I got this book on CD from the library. It was fun to listen to. I got hooked on it quickly and wanted to go for rides in the car just so I could listen to it. (Good thing gas prices have dropped.) I just put a reserve on the first book (on CD) - Buck Fever.

This is a great light fun read. If you loved this book also check out the author C.J. Box and his Joe Pickett adventures which also follow a game warden based near a hunting culture small town filled with eccentric red necks, corrupt officials and other fun characters, his books are set in Wyoming. Both even have similar author photos complete with dogs and bucket hats or whatever they're called inside the back covers. Open Season (Joe Pickett Novels) is the first novel in that great series, check it out!

Bone Dry the sequel to Reheder's first novel Buck Fever picks up at the start of the next year's deer season from when that novel ended. It is important to note that you do not need to have read Buck Fever to enjoy or get the most out of this novel. Other than a reoccurring main character, game warden John Marlin, as well as other eccentric county residents who appear in each novel such as local rednecks Billy Don and Red. This series of fun adventures set in Blanco County Texas can be read in any order.

New characters who add to the storyline of Bone Dry include Inga, a smart supermodel quality blond Volvo driving conservationist. Inga isn't afraid to fill a hunter's ute with bullets. A nerdy even more extreme environmentalist Thomas Peabody is her travelling companion and determined to win Inga's favour by proving he is dedicated to the cause with even more and more dangerous stunts in the name of the environment.

Witness relocation mafia man Sal and his dim-witted son Vinnie who now run a tree clearing business also add to the fun. Fans of the Hollywood's horse in the head scene will be pleased with a scene created by Vinnie in this book which is the catalyst for a number of events putting this once powerful underworld figure in danger of being discovered. Smedley a morbidly obese US marshall who is a good but lazy and not to bright man assigned to keep tabs on Sal, Sal's housekeeper and poor immigrant Maria who Sal fears has the powers of a witch complicate the situation for this mafia family but add great enjoyment for the reader.

A lazy incompetent former big city cop will learn the hard way that city tactics don't work out in rural Texas nor does trying to force a confession as he investigates the shooting of a local hunter. And of course game warden John Marlin is the glue that holds this fun story together.

Read this series, it's good!

If you enjoyed the outrageous humor in Buck Fever about cross-species sexuality and good old boys poaching deer, you will be thrilled with Bone Dry. The talented Mr. Rehder has added more targets for his humor, made them funnier and further developed the excellent goofballs, Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock.

In Bone Dry, you will find Italian mobsters mixing it up with the local Texas drunks, a supermodel who uses her looks and her scent to save endangered species, lots of brush-busting and scams galore. In the middle of all the resulting mayhem, John Marlin, the Lone Ranger of game wardens, finds himself running the investigation into a hunter's suspicious death.

The book combines a satire of the Godfather, a Carl Hiaasen-type story about Texas, an excellent police procedural, lots of environmental lessons and a love story with enough irony to keep your eyes blinking with surprise for days. It's a remarkable, guffaw-inducing achievement.

Save this book for the next time you really need a good laugh.

I recommend that you also go on to read the latest book in the series, Flat Crazy, which is even better than Bone Dry.

If you are from or are familiar with this area of the Texas Hill Country, all the details ring true. If you are a long time fan of Ben Rehder's then you will love this one. The man can't write a bad book!

I listened to the audio edition of this book and my comments pertain to that edition.

I read the first book in Rehder's Blanco County series last year and enjoyed it. When I got the chance to listen to the second on audio, I jumped at it. If possible, I liked the second even more than the first.

If you love the zany Floridian adventures of authors like Tim Dorsey and Carl Hiaasen, you will probably want to take a side trip to Blanco County. As those authors do, Rehder throws a bunch of semi-competent crooked folks (in this case including a Mafia family in hiding), a few well meaning folks (this time around it's a couple of tree-huggin' types trying to save a rare bird from all the brush clearing going on) and in the middle of it, a bemused decent good guy trying to sort out all the events. The center of the Blanco County novels is game warden John Marlin, who does his best to stay sane and sort out the string of bizarre events.

He has his hands full in this second book, as some bodies turn up, others go missing, and that's in between the eco-terrorism, county jail hostage stand-off, Marlin's personal life going to hell, and oh, yeah, opening week of hunting season. Rehder does a fine job of juggling multiple plot lines and a huge cast of supporting characters while keeping all the threads moving toward a neatly wrapped up conclusion. I could often see where the plot was going a few chapters ahead of time but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride nevertheless.

The unabridged audiobook is competently read (I'm sorry I don't have the name of the narrator). While nothing was particularly gained or lost by listening to the book rather than reading it, I didn't have to put the book down to do chores like washing dishes--as long as you aren't listening in places where people will give you strange looks if you occasionally laugh out loud while listening.

I recommend this book and the whole Blanco County series to anyone who likes a light, funny mystery, particularly fans of the Carl Hiaasen style.

i didn't hesitate to pick up ben rehder's second book when i saw it and was not disappointed.....this book was even more fun than the first one.....peace mary