★ 01/25/2016
Last seen in the novel Honky Tonk Samurai, Lansdale’s incomparable East Texas crime fighting duo show their chops in this remarkable story collection. Hap Collins, a straight, white liberal, and Leonard Pine, a black, gay conservative, have long challenged genre conventions, and the friendship and camaraderie between these two hard cases as they suit up against injustice and hypocrisy is at the heart of these seven tales. In the novella “Hyenas,” the boys help save a client’s impressionable younger brother from the clutches of a group of psychotic robbers. “Dead Aim” finds the pair taking on the Dixie Mafia after a seemingly straightforward cheating spouse case gets a tad more complicated. “Not Our Kind” is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s, when a teenage Hap first befriends Leonard and faces the racism and intolerance of his peers up close. Readers can also look forward to the debut of the TV show Hap and Leonard on the Sundance Channel in March. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (Mar.)
Seven laid-back adventures, one of them brand new, for "freelance troubleshooter" and good old boy Hap Collins and his gay black Republican partner Leonard Pine. . . . No one currently working the field demonstrates more convincingly and joyously the deep affinity between pulp fiction and the American tall tale.”
—Kirkus
[STAR] “Last seen in the novel Honky Tonk Samurai, Lansdale’s incomparable East Texas crime fighting duo show their chops in this remarkable story collection. Hap Collins, a straight, white liberal, and Leonard Pine, a black, gay conservative, have long challenged genre conventions, and the friendship and camaraderie between these two hard cases as they suit up against injustice and hypocrisy is at the heart of these seven tales. In the novella “Hyenas,” the boys help save a client’s impressionable younger brother from the clutches of a group of psychotic robbers. “Dead Aim” finds the pair taking on the Dixie Mafia after a seemingly straightforward cheating spouse case gets a tad more complicated. “Not Our Kind” is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s, when a teenage Hap first befriends Leonard and faces the racism and intolerance of his peers up close. Readers can also look forward to the debut of the TV show Hap and Leonard on the Sundance Channel in March.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An essential Hap and Leonard addition”
—The Novel Pursuit
“. . . it’s great to have all of these wonderful stories together in one nifty volume”
—Horror Drive-In
“It has all the hard to find short stories featuring Hap & Leonard, the most enjoyable mismatched pair of private eyes since Spenser and Hawk.”
—Son of Spade
“A perfect introduction”
—Booklist
“East Texas charm, profane wit, and strong characterization, with enough snappy dialogue to keep a smile on your face . . . excellent entertainment, edge-of-your-seat action one minute, gut-busting humor”
—Adventures in Genre Fiction
“This collection is crime/pulp fiction at its best and most captivating.”
—Risingshadow
“short, concentrated bursts of everything that makes the series so good.”
—October Country
“If you find yourself on the wrong side of Hap and Leonard, be cautious, because they are quicker than a rattlesnake, and their bite is just as bad. If you find yourself an innocent bystander looking for a great book to read, you’ve come to the right place.”
—Killer Nashville
“If you are a fan of the genre and looking for a new character to get into, Hap and Leonard won’t steer you wrong.”
—LitReactor
“For those new to either Lansdale or the series, this latest collection is an excellent introduction to the kind of trouble these two often find themselves in; all the while exchanging some of the funniest, lovingly antagonistic, and memorial dialogue of any crime series.”
—Bookgasm
“If you haven’t read any of the dozen or so Hap and Leonard novels, start here.”
—Lone Star Literary
“As Mr. Lansdale might say, 'This was more fun than rolling down a hill with a bunch of armadillos.'”
—Horror Novel Reviews
02/15/2016
This is Lansdale's (Paradise Sky) latest collection of short stories from the popular "Hap and Leonard" series. Hap, a self-described "freelance troubleshooter," and Leonard, his crime-fighting sidekick, get in and out of trouble in these tales. In "Hyenas," Leonard wins a bar brawl—only to find that the guy he beat is his next client. A crooked lawyer from Hap's past springs Leonard from jail in "Veil's Visit." Other stories offer insight into the past of both Hap and Leonard, including the early sparks of their friendship. The lighthearted "Death by Chili" includes Lansdale's own chili recipe. In the essay "The Care and Feeding and Raising Up of Hap and Leonard," Lansdale reflects on writing this widely acclaimed series. VERDICT Macho, action-packed, and brimming with witty one-liners, this collection is published to coincide with the March 2 debut of the Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard and will appeal to casual readers of the series, as well as newcomers. Die-hard fans will be delighted to find one previously unpublished story in this volume.—Emily Hamstra, Seattle
2016-01-09
Seven laid-back adventures, one of them brand new, for "freelance troubleshooter" and good old boy Hap Collins and his gay black Republican partner Leonard Pine. As Michael Koryta notes in his celebratory introduction, salt-and-pepper heroes have been done to death, but Lansdale (Paradise Sky, 2015, etc.) keeps his duo fresh through their dialogue, which manages to sound both relaxed and inventive. The pair talk themselves through three long stories and four short ones. All the long ones are keepers. After Leonard wins a bar fight in "Hyenas," one of the guys he's beaten up hires him and Hap to extricate his brother from a gang that specializes in knocking over armored cars. In "Bent Twig," Hap, initially without Leonard, goes looking for his lover Brett's semi-kidnapped prostitute daughter, Tillie, who's "tough as yesterday's fajita meat." An estranged wife hires the pair to beat up her fearsome soon-to-be-ex in "Dead Aim"; when someone takes even stronger measures against him, the boys are left holding the bag. The plotting throughout is no more than routine, but the uncovering of layer after layer of double crosses allows Hap and Leonard numerous opportunities to discourse about everything and nothing as Lansdale spins out his trademark redneck similes, the most pungent since Raymond Chandler. Three of the shorter stories go by in a flash: a remembrance of a 1978 "Death by Chili"; a bullied kid's chilling final act in "The Boy Who Became Invisible"; and Hap's earliest recollections of Leonard, another kid he's just befriended, in "Not Our Kind," the only new story here. Attorney Veil's defense of Hap on charges of arson in "Veil's Visit," co-authored with Andrew Vachss, proves mainly that your best friends aren't necessarily your best collaborators. The collection is rounded out with Lansdale's reminiscences about chronicling the pair's adventures, the author's faux-interview of his heroes, and four black-and-white photos from the SundanceTV series. No one currently working the field demonstrates more convincingly and joyously the deep affinity between pulp fiction and the American tall tale.
