Prairie Gothic [Hardcover]

J.M. Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2003

Benteen County, Kansas, a hellhole in summer under scorching heat and winds, turns even meaner in winter. As a howling blizzard blows down upon Buffalo Springs, the sparsely populated county seat, Sheriff English is presented with a missing doll and a dead baby's switched, but by whom? And why? The elderly coroner disclaims any knowledge, but seems faintly uneasy, especially when the swastika on the tiny corpse is revealed. Meanwhile the sheriff's half-brother, Harvey Edward Maddox, also part Cheyenne and thus known as Mad Dog for his invocation of his Amerind heritage, has picked up a naked dead body from the Sunshine Towers retirement home and is heading towards a treetop burial when diverted by the storm. In a makeshift mound nearby, Mad Dog's pet hybrid-wolf finds a child's skull and evidence of mature bones. Also a fading ID for a living County Supervisor. Can the Hornbaker clan really be as gothic as it seems? And what of the tiny woman in the red shoes back at the Towers who calls herself Dorothy, underlying an odd note of Oz...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Mad Dog, Englishman, and the other eccentric inhabitants of Buffalo Springs, Kansas, have their hands full in their second adventure. A raging blizzard makes driving dangerous and communication haphazard. As if this weren't enough, Sheriff English must find out why an Alzheimer's patient at the local nursing home is cuddling a dead baby instead of her doll. English's half-brother, Mad Dog, has taken the body of another resident for a traditional Cheyenne burial, but family members give chase and start shooting. Meanwhile, the sheriff's teenage daughters take off with his deputy, who is teaching them to drive, and an old lady named Dorothy who wears red shoes may convince readers that Oz really is in Kansas. With zany, lovable characters and a plot that hurtles along with the momentum of a wacky action movie, this comic mystery will appeal to fans of Joan Hess' Maggody series. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Switched identities, an infant who appears mysteriously, a madwoman locked away from the outside world--these and other gothic elements in Hayes&'s wry, briskly paced second novel (after 2000's Mad Dog and Englishman) would make Mrs. Radcliffe feel right at home. Sheriff English of Buffalo Springs, Kans., shows up at the Sunshine Towers Retirement Home, to try to identify the mother of a tiny corpse that one of the elderly residents has found. The sheriff's part Cheyenne half-brother, Mad Dog, has just liberated the body of Tommie Irons from the Towers and conveyed it for ritual release to the Happy Hunting Grounds, and then a blizzard shuts down the town, except for the Texaco station and the courthouse. Things could not be much worse--but they soon are, as a woman who calls herself Dorothy and wears bright red tennis shoes seems to be leading the sheriff and Mad Dog down the garden path. Juggling the several story lines with aplomb, Hayes shows that even quirky characters can have a sober, thoughtful side when dealing with dilemmas of confidentiality and choice. This macabre, witty look at life and death on the Great Plains should win Hayes new fans."-Publishers Weekly

"It is a dizzying novel, with montage cuts like a movie -- Robert Altman meets John Woo with a scary chunk of Roman Polanski thrown in -- but manages to work in wise and often amusing perceptions about the ways of American Indians, Plains states Christianity and the ways even Kansas is changing in the modern world."--San Jose Mercury News

"If you read 'Mad Dog and Englishman,' J.M. Hayes' first book about the eccentric residents of Buffalo Springs, Kan., you'll know how the author likes to toss into his creative blender a grocery cart full of diverse cultural elements--crime contemporary and historic, American Indian religion and medicine, the survival instincts necessary to live off of some very inhospitable real estate--and come up with something truly unusual.



Hayes brings back his odd couple of half-brothers here: the relatively sedate and reliable Sheriff English and Harvey 'Mad Dog' Maddox, who is part Cheyenne and is immersed up to his stringy neck in the shamanic practices of that half of his heritage. A dead baby found during a howling blizzard is the murder engine that jump-starts the narrative, but Hayes' colorful characters (sometimes a bit too heavily painted) have all sorts of other acts of mischief on their minds."--Chicago Tribune

"Hayes' character-driven story is so filled with enjoyable eccentric types that the mystery elements sometimes seem more like side issues. Among this book's cast are members of the extremely gothic (and probably inbred) Hornbaker family; a runaway little old lady who wears red shoes and answers to the name "Dorothy"; and even a witch who's being kept in a cage. Yet the serious subjects raised in PRAIRIE GOTHIC -- abortion, teen pregnancy in a conservative small town, etc. -- are handled both compassionately and believably. The action here moves along swiftly, culminating in a surprising, if somewhat bizarre, solution. Adding to the suspense is Hayes' decision to switch point of view frequently between the sheriff, Mad Dog and the Heathers...This is a fun and wacky sequel to MAD DOG AND ENGLISHMAN (2000), and I look forward to reading about the continuing adventures of these likable characters."-January Magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 edition (January 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590580508
• ISBN-13: 978-1590580509
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,375,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and funny, April 3, 2003

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Prairie Gothic (Hardcover)

Mad Dog, a half Cheyenne self-appointed shaman is only following the wishes of his recently deceased fellow Native American to give him an authentic burial. That's when someone starts taking shots at him. In the meantime, his brother, Sheriff (Englishman) English is called to a nursing home with a report of a kidnapped baby. While a blizzard rages, Englishman needs to find his brother, discover how the baby was killed, and head off an increasingly crazy group of locals.

Author J. M. Hayes delivers an often funny story that mixes reality and fantasy seamlessly. Mad Dog may really have shaman powers--or maybe he is just disturbed. Dorothy from the nursing home swears by her ruby sneakers--and calls Mad Dog 'the wizard.' Dorothy may know what happened to the body, and even where the baby came from, but does she also know more. Because there are deep secrets in this rural Kansas towns--secrets that go back to nazi Germany and before.

I suspect that Hayes had a good time writing this book. I certainly had a good time reading it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Pleasant Departure, July 13, 2003

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prairie Gothic (Hardcover)

If you're a mystery fan but looking for a change of pace from the standard big-city LA/NY fare, you may want to give "Prairie Gothic", by J.M. Hayes, a try. The story takes place over a 24-hour span in rural Buffalo Springs, Kansas. The body of an infant has been discovered at the local nursing home, setting the stage for some darkly humorous crime fiction that if not exactly a page-turner is at least unique. Hayes' laconic and droll style fits neatly with the prairie and small towns of which he writes. The main characters - part Cheyenne Harvey Edward Maddox, or more popularly "Mad Dog" and his half brother, the County Sheriff English, or of course "Englishman" - plow through a 100-year blizzard as the mystery unravels.

This is nothing if not a quirky novel - a unique change of pace that will stay lodged in your memory longer than the average crime story. One gets the feeling that Hayes really enjoys his writing, and as a Kansas native, he certainly seems to know of the people and places around which the tale is spun. If you're in the mood for some off-beat fiction on a lazy summer afternoon, "Prairie Gothic" is worth the time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gothic Indeed, June 17, 2009

By 

Elise Lewis (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prairie Gothic (Mad Dog & Englishman Mysteries) (Paperback)

Mad Dog is at it again, this time determined to give an old man a proper burial, Wynnsome is still clueless, and the blizzard becomes a major character in the story. A lot of serious subjects get dealt with here, but with enough likable characters and comic relief to keep it moving.