Review of "Avalanche: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery," by Patrick McManus

 Review of

Avalanche: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery, by Patrick McManus, ISBN 9781416532651

Five out of five stars

Great, quirky characters in support

 The main character is Bo Tully, Sheriff of Blight County in Idaho. His father, known as Pap, was a previous sheriff and he is still alive and a very obnoxious man. When the wife of Mike Wilson reports him as missing, at least more missing than usual, Bo develops a plan of action. The Wilson’s own and operate a ski resort lodge and there are several outlying cabins on the lodge property.

Bo and Pap decide to take an excursion to one of the lodges in what is to be a combination investigation/relaxation mission. One the way there, a massive avalanche occurs and only by speeding up, they manage to get upriver of it. However, the river is dammed up and begins to back flood. 

 When they reach the cabin, they find two college students naked in bed. With no time to lose, Bo grabs the girl named Lindsay and physically carries her up a hill and out of danger. This sets the stage for a series of future encounters where Lindsay continues to hint that their initial encounter was sexual. 

 There is a tracker that claims to be the only member of a Native American tribe, a forest recluse that refuses nearly all human contact, several women deeply interested in the widowed Tully, a jail full of a family called Scraggs, a deputy that is a forensic genius that everyone calls Lurch, and an ornery dog called Clarence. This is only a partial list of the characters.

 What makes this book so entertaining is the dialog among all these characters. There is no foul language, which is an existence proof that an engaging story can be told with quality dialog without resorting to sexual encounters or profanity. Even the one near sexual encounter descends into a comedic disaster. There is also very little gun violence, although there are a few incidences of fisticuffs. If you read this book, you will want to read the others in the series. I looked up the entire list and will be searching for them when I go to the used bookstore tomorrow. 


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