Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Idaho — and a fellow who dropped twenty pounds on Atkins — had been thinking about asking out Jan Whittle, his grade-school sweetheart. Problem is, he's already promised to celebrate his dad's seventy-fifth birthday with him. Thwarted romance proves to be the least of Bo's problems, however, when a dead body turns up on Batim Scragg's ranch. The baffling thing is that neither Batim nor his two wayward sons appear to be the culprits. Forced to put on his sleuthing hat, Bo finds himself faced with a whole slew of possible suspects. And what quickly becomes apparent is that, while the sheriff's investigative methods may not exactly be legal, they are, for better or worse, The Blight Way.

A bestselling author with more than two million books in print, the curmudgeonly wit Patrick McManus delivers a page-turning mystery filled with mirth and misadventure set in hook-and-bullet territory.

"Prolific, popular outdoorsman and humorist McManus (The Bear in the Attic) departs from his trademark shaggy-dog stories with this novel set in current-day Idaho, the first in a new mystery series starring Blight County sheriff Bo Tully. Single, slimmed-down from the Atkins diet and highly interested in the ladies, Bo is blessedly unconcerned with the niceties of search warrants, suspect rights or any other impediment to his effective style of law enforcement. On the 75th birthday of his father, Eldon 'Pap' Tully, former Blight County sheriff, a dead body turns up at the ranch of a family of ex-cons. Bo decides a murder investigation would be the perfect birthday present for Pap. The dead man is from Los Angeles, as are the next two corpses Bo and Pap find at the scene of a heavy firepower ambush — not Blight County's usual low-rent crime. Behind his hayseed cop exterior, Bo is smart, sneaky and relentless. Add lots of quirky suspects, criss-crossing motives and artery-clogging meals at Dave's House of Fry, and McManus delivers a brisk, hilarious smalltown cop mystery." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[O]ne of the most entertaining mystery debuts in years." Kirkus Reviews

"A style that brings to mind Mark Twain, Art Buchwald, and Garrison Keillor."

-- People

"Everybody should read Patrick McManus."

-- The New York Times Book Review

Bestselling author McManus kicks off a rousing new mystery series set in the rarefied air of the Rockies, where maverick local sheriff Bo Tully has his hands full trying to ferret out a murderer among the colorful denizens of Blight County.

Patrick F. McManus is a veteran columnist for Outdoor Life and Field & Stream. The author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Grasshopper Trap and Real Ponies Don't Go Oink!, he lives in Spokane, Washington.