vkemp's review
5.0
When your name is Lee Henry Oswald and you live in Dallas, Texas, you need to be a tough guy. Lee Henry (“call me, Hank”) is as tough as they come on the outside, but nougat on the inside. He lives in a house he is restoring and works in old East Dallas, sharing an office in a house with two other people: Ferguson Merriweather, a lawyer and David March Howell, a real estate appraiser. He shares his house with an elderly chocolate lab named Glenda.
He is unable to resist Vera Drinkwater, the high school slut, who approaches him to find out where her little brother, Charlie Wesson, is. Charlie never showed up at her birthday party. Hank goes to visit his partner, dying of liver cancer at Baylor Hospital to tell him about the new case. Ernie, his partner, asks Hank to protect his sister’s daughter, Nolan, who has just moved to Dallas.
Hank visits Charlie Wesson’s place of employment, Callahan Real Estate and begins to smell a rat, especially when confronted in the parking lot by two hired thugs. The search is going to be hard. But Hank has friends he calls upon, including Delmar and Olson, who deal in weapons of every variety. Hank meets Nolan at a bar where she is serving a subpoena on a business man and takes her along to meet the rest of the crew. It all goes downhill from there. And, once Charlie’s body turns up, Hank is determined to find out why.
This is Hunsicker’s first novel. It does not read like a debut novel. The plot is tightly wrapped and the characters are well drawn. Still River was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America for Best Debut Novel in 2005. It’s a wild ride down the mean streets of Dallas, but worth the trip.
He is unable to resist Vera Drinkwater, the high school slut, who approaches him to find out where her little brother, Charlie Wesson, is. Charlie never showed up at her birthday party. Hank goes to visit his partner, dying of liver cancer at Baylor Hospital to tell him about the new case. Ernie, his partner, asks Hank to protect his sister’s daughter, Nolan, who has just moved to Dallas.
Hank visits Charlie Wesson’s place of employment, Callahan Real Estate and begins to smell a rat, especially when confronted in the parking lot by two hired thugs. The search is going to be hard. But Hank has friends he calls upon, including Delmar and Olson, who deal in weapons of every variety. Hank meets Nolan at a bar where she is serving a subpoena on a business man and takes her along to meet the rest of the crew. It all goes downhill from there. And, once Charlie’s body turns up, Hank is determined to find out why.
This is Hunsicker’s first novel. It does not read like a debut novel. The plot is tightly wrapped and the characters are well drawn. Still River was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America for Best Debut Novel in 2005. It’s a wild ride down the mean streets of Dallas, but worth the trip.
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