The Yard Dog: A Mystery (Hook Runyon Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Sheldon Russell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hook Runyon Mysteries | Publication Date: September 1, 2009

The Yard Dog takes place near the close of World War II, when a large number of Nazi POWs were incarcerated in camps scattered across the prairies of the United States. 

At Waynoka Divisional Point, near POW Camp Alva, the disillusioned Hook Runyon is assigned by the railroad to run off hobos and arrest pickpockets. Left behind in the war because of the loss of his arm in a car accident, Hook lives in a caboose, collects rare books, and drinks busthead liquor. When a coal picker by the name of Spark Dugan is found run over by a reefer car, Hook and his sidekick, Runt, the local moonshiner, suspect foul play and are drawn into a scheme far greater than either could have imagined. This conspiracy reaches the highest echelons of the camp and beyond and will push Hook and Runt to their physical and mental limits.

Hook is a complex character, equal parts rough and vulnerable, an unlikely and unwilling hero. He is more than matched by Dr. Reina Kaplan, a Jewish big-city transplant to Camp Alva who is battling her own demons and has been put in charge of educating the Nazi inmates in the basics of democracy before their eventual return to Germany.

Vivid descriptions of period detail, stark landscapes, and unique characters make this first book in the Hook Runyon series a fascinating mystery full of tension and deep insight.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Oklahoma at the close of WWII, Russell's engrossing mystery casts light on a little-known corner of American history. When harmless indigent Spark Dugan winds up dead in the Waynoka rail yards, the local yard dog (i.e., railroad detective), Hook Runyon, decides the man's death was no accident. Runyon soon learns that mild-mannered Dugan may have been involved in a local ring smuggling army goods. As more details come to light, Runyon begins to suspect a big-time operation that involves foul play at a nearby Nazi POW camp—and possibly a local oil tycoon with a penchant for lavish living. With the help of the camp cook and community moonshiner as well as the POW camp's English teacher, Runyon and his friends are soon ensnared in a dangerous investigation that's anything but routine railroad detective work. Russell (Dreams to Dust) impressively contrasts the book's raw, colorful characters with the harsh Oklahoma landscape. (Sept.)
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Review

“Pungent as the coal smoke hanging over a railroad yard, Sheldon Russell's elegantly written The Yard Dog offers a fascinating glimpse of raw passions in an unusual World War II setting that is true to its time and place. As Oklahoma as Woody Guthrie, The Yard Dog is bound for glory.”--Carolyn Hart, author of Dare to Die and Ghost at Work

“Reading The Yard Dog, I could feel the hot coal cinders from passing locomotive engines burn the back of my neck.  The setting is pitch perfect mid-century American noir, and I'm hooked on Hook Runyon!”--James R. Benn, author of Evil For Evil: A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery

"The era of the Greatest Generation is brought vividly to life in Sheldon Russell's outstanding novel, The Yard Dog, a compelling story of crime, conspiracy, and disillusionment set in an American POW camp at the end of WWII.  The plot is gripping, the writing is crisp, and the setting is both historically accurate and immensely evocative.  This is a terrific novel."
--William Bernhardt, author of Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness

 “Rarely does a book the quality of The Yard Dog come along. Sheldon Russell is the sniper and Yard Dog hits the bull's-eye. Well-written characters, a diabolical plot and Nazis in an Oklahoma prison camp: The Yard Dog has everything it takes to make this the best mystery of the year--or in years! It'll be a real crime if Yard Dog doesn't win an Edgar--it is that good.”--Robert E. Vardeman, author Death Channels

"...a marvelous read." --Booklist (starred review)

"The plot is brilliant and riveting; the characterization is rich and vivid; the setting is distinctive and intriguing. I'm hoping this is the first in a long line of Hook Runyon mysteries." -- Fresh Fiction

"Russell has created one of the most noteworthy characters in modern detective fiction...The plot is well thought out, the characters memorable, the setting unusual...The Yard Dog is not only one of the best debuts of the year, it is among the best mysteries of the year." --Mysterious Reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312566700
• ISBN-13: 978-0312566708
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,031,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carefully drawn characters - people of their time and place, May 23, 2010

By 

Larry D. Foreman (Guthrie, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Yard Dog: A Mystery (Hook Runyon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The basic story line is given in other reviews, so I won't repeat it. I found the story to be both exciting and intellectually intriguing. After a couple of chapters I couldn't put it down, and I was disappointed when I reached the end so soon. I can't wait for the next Hook Runyan story. The main character, Hook, was likeable even though seriously flawed with a drinking problem. The second level characters that the story also follows (Hook's shine maker and friend Runt Wallace and Hook's love interest Reina Kaplan) are interesting, unusual, and relatable. The third level characters that support the story (for example, the prison camp commander, the prisoner's Nazi commander, Runt's mother, and various railroad characters) are also described with care and distinctiveness. All the characters are people of their time and place. The plot moves in up and down waves of action giving the reader bouts of excitement interspersed with time to rest and ponder the mystery. The love of northwestern Oklahoma and the rural railroad setting are obviously well known and well loved by the author; the infection is passed along to the reader. The author has done considerable research into the era and the issues of the closing days of World War II. I feel enlightened by having read the book. Readers of both historical fiction and mysteries will find this a compelling story.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reliving history, September 7, 2009

By 

L. Rogers "MissLue"" (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Yard Dog: A Mystery (Hook Runyon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is a real BOOK! If we could teach students history using books of this kind, we would be really teaching history. I lived through the 30s and 40s, I thought I knew a bit about WWII, I remember the good things about growing up in this time -- but I had forgotten much of the bad. This book brought it all back: the mud, the back breaking difficulties in simply doing laundry, the rationing, the going hungry, the pictures of the concentration camps that filled newsreels, the tough times my parents experenced in "making do." I lived in Missouri, right across the border from Oklahoma and a German POW camp! My God, who knew? Not me. This is the unsanitized version of living during 1944-45 in this particular area of the U.S. and it was a wonderful reminder for me of how life has changed. The author took me on a journey I won't forget in quite a while. Good job!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super mid 1940s mystery, September 6, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Yard Dog: A Mystery (Hook Runyon Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In Oklahoma as WWII draws to a close, Hook Runyan touches his armless sleeve and thinks back to his ex wife. She walked away without a mark from a car accident that cost him his limb in which he was a passenger and she the driver; she walked away from him too. Currently he lives alone in a junker caboose near where he works at the Waynoka Train depot just south of POW Camp Alva.

When his only friend moonshiner Spark Dugan is found dead in the Waynoka rail yards, no one cares except Hook who knows it his job as the local yard dog to investigate, but this is personal. He begins to uncover unsavory things about his dead buddy including his belonging to a smuggling ring stealing army supplies and selling them on the black market and with ties to the camp. Camp Commander major Foreman refuses to cooperate while newcomer Dr. Reina Kaplan implements an internationally outlawed brainwashing program. Neither of them can deter Hook from his inquiry

This is a super mid 1940s mystery that uses the investigation to provide readers with a deep look at the POW camps on American soil and at rationing American capitalist style. The story line is fast-paced as the YARD DOG Hook does his detective job by conducting an inquiry into the death of his buddy. Although the whodunit is well written and very entertaining, the historical view owns the novel as Sheldon Russell provides the audience with an interesting glimpse at WWII in the Oklahoma home front.

Harriet Klausner