Customer Reviews

Prairie Gothic

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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.

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.

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.