A Dead Man's Tale (Charlie Moon Series #15) » (First Edition)

James D. Doss is the author of fourteen previous Charlie Moon mysteries, two of which were among the Best Books of the Year named by Publishers Weekly. Born in Kentucky, Doss now divides his time between Los Alamos and Taos, New Mexico.

Charlie Moon, Ute rancher and investigator, isn’t afraid to throw the dice even when a man’s life is at stake, but when that man is betting against himself and Moon’s ability to save him, that makes for some awfully high stakes.

Hard times have come to Colorado, and Moon’s ranch is feeling the pinch. Investor Samuel Reed has never had that problem. He seems to have a special intuition when it comes to picking stocks and claims to be able to remember the future, which gives him quite a leg up on Wall Street. So it’s no surprise that Reed is confident when he makes a wager with Moon’s best friend, Granite City Chief of Police Scott Parish, that Parish can’t keep him alive.

Even when Reed doesn’t give them any details beyond the date and time of his impending demise, that’s more than enough information for Moon who wants in on the action and is just as confident that he’s well on the way to saving his ranch. But Moon’s best plans go awry when instead of one homicide on his hands, he ends up with two.

James D. Doss infuses the pages of A Dead Man’s Tale, the fifteenth in his popular series, with his potent brand of high spirits and homespun humor that has made him a favorite among mystery readers.

Publishers Weekly

Charlie Moon and his best friend, Scott Parris, the chief of police of upscale Granite City, Colo., face a doozy of a case even by their standards in Doss's folksy 15th mystery featuring the Ute tribal investigator (after 2009's The Widow's Revenge): solving the murder of megabucks investor Samuel Reed before it occurs. Though the two lawmen initially scoff at the prospective victim's proffered wager that he won't survive his young wife's upcoming birthday, they have second thoughts after Mrs. Reed's 911 report of a phantom break-in as well as more serious concerns once Moon's self-appointed deputies--his reprobate Aunt Daisy, an elderly shaman with supernatural sources, and teenage orphan Sarah Frank--tail the lady in question to a rendezvous with her lover. Even so, ensuing events blindside Moon and Parris, setting in motion a denouement surprising enough to make it worth tolerating the author's myriad digressions and annoying stylistic quirks. (Nov.)