Saturday, June 23, 2018

Coco Butternut by Joe R. Lansdale


(hb; 2017: third novella in the Hap and Leonard series; sixteenth book in the overall series)

From the back cover

“Coco Butternut marks the always-welcome return of Joe R. Lansdale’s dysfunctional duo: Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. As usual, wherever Hap and Leonard go, trouble seems to already be there, awaiting their arrival. And in the case of this twisty, hilarious, and heartfelt new novella, Lansdale sends his heroes to Oak Rest mortuary and cemetery to grapple with the living and the dead—both canine and human.

"When the mummified corpse of a beloved prize-winning daschund named Coco Butternut is stolen from her final resting place, Hap and Leonard are hired by the owner to get her body back. The job is straightforward: they must simply exchange a bag full of cash for the missing pooch's mummy. But they can feel something is not on the up-and-up, and how right they are.

"With assistance from Hap's significant other, Brett, and his daughter, Chance, Hap and Leonard are soon embroiled in a gripping mystery tied to the dark secrets lurking beneath the hallowed ground of Oak Rest cemetery."


Review

Tone-wise, this is one of the lightest, if not the lightest, entries in the Hap and Leonard series. It also sports one of the slightest storylines in the series. That said, this is still an entertaining, light-on-quips-and-violence and semi-quirky read. Followed by Rusty Puppy.

No comments: