Vanilla Ride (Hap Collins and Leonard Pine Series #7) »

Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Sunset and Sawdust, Lost Echoes, and Leather Maiden. He has received the British Fantasy Award, the American Mystery Award, the Edgar Award, the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, and seven Bram Stoker Awards. He lives with his family in Nacogdoches, Texas.
 
www.joerlansdale.com

Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, the kings of East Texas mischief and mayhem, return in this full-throttle thriller to face off with the Dixie Mafia.
 
When Leonard is asked to rescue a teenage girl from a lowly drug dealer, he gladly agrees and invites Hap along for the ride.  Everything goes according to plan, until they find out the dealer is a member of the Dixie mafia. A wild gun fight ensues, after which Hap and Leonard are arrested. Turns out, however, that the law needs a favor and if Hap and Leonard can do the deed they’ll be free roam. There’s one problem the Dixie Mafia’s new hired gun—the legendary assassin Vanilla Ride. Filled with breakneck action, gut-busting laughs, and one gigantic crocodile, this hilarious novel is as hot as a habanero pepper.

Publishers Weekly

Last seen in 2001's Captains Outrageous, Lansdale's East Texas twosome of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who specialize in daring jobs for hire, are in fine fettle-slightly older and wiser, still prone to down-home philosophical rants and as eager as ever to lead violence by the nose. In their seventh raucous outing, the unlikely partners-Hap's a white, horny heterosexual good ol' boy, and Leonard's a black homosexual Vietnam vet-rescue a friend's daughter from the clutches of drug dealers. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the dealers are part of the Dixie Mafia, which proceeds to send waves of assassins in retaliation, each worse than the last. Joking as they go, Hap and Leonard dispose of each with their usual brand of brutality. Then, the mafia sends its weapon of last resort, Vanilla Ride, a beautiful hit woman. Edgar-winner Lansdale's storytelling skills are as sharp as ever-bursts of action, moments of reflection and lots of shooting the breeze before trouble comes calling again. (July)

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