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According to the book description of Code Sixty-One, "With his
dead-on depictions of the rural crime beat in such critically acclaimed novels
as Eleven Days, Known Dead, and The Big Thaw, Donald Harstad proved himself to
be a master of the police procedural and a keen observer of the intrigues and
eccentricities of the American heartland. In Code Sixty-one, Harstad furthers
his talents, bringing his offbeat, Fargoesque style to a gripping tale about
modern-day vampires. Investigating the apparent suicide of a colleagues niece,
Iowa Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman uncovers a group that has transformed the dark
fantasies of vampire legend into grisly reality: they ritualistically drink
small amounts of one anothers blood. As Houseman and his partner, Hester Gorse,
are drawn deeper into this alternate, alien world, they come to the chilling
conclusion that the dead young woman may have been the victim of a
twenty-first-century Dracula. Their prime suspect, Dan Peal, is a sinister and
commanding presence within the group, but without proof to substantiate such a
heinous theory, the trail is in danger of running cold. When their suspicions
are bolstered by the report of a card-carrying vampire-hunter who is also
pursuing Peal, Houseman and Gorse suddenly find themselves scrambling to track
the vampire before he kills again. A spellbinding journey into the dark recesses
of the modern-day heartland, Code Sixty-one unfolds with relentless speed and
precision. Veteran police officer and author Donald Harstad continues to craft
his work from the fabric of personal experience and insider know-how, cutting to
the quick of well-imagined fiction, rattling nerves along the way."
According to the book description of A Long December, "The people
of Nation County, Iowaa heartland town straight out of a Coen Brothers movie or
a John Cougar Mellencamp songpractice a unique brand of American stoicism. You
betcha. And they rely upon their public servants to shield them from the horrors
of the outside world. Carl Houseman, deputy sheriff of the 750-square-mile
county, dedicates his life to keeping his citizenry so secure that you can leave
the door unlocked at home and walk his streets with a big hello and a smile to
every stranger. On Housemans watch, the mounting terrors of the new world
order stay far away. But December 2001 could change all of that. Outsiders are
everywhere. The meat plant is now kosher and there are more Jewish fellows per
capita than any other place in the country. Hispanic and other foreign workers,
with dubious immigration papers, have taken jobs from the locals. Eighteen other
languages are now spoken within the tiny region, and Carl and company cant
speak a single one. Then the eighty-odd-year-old Heinman brothers call comes
in from their farm down in Frog Hollow. Theyve witnessed an execution-style
killing not one hundred yards from their pig feeders. The victims awful dead
and half his heads been blown off. The boys havent seen nothing like it since
Normandy. When Carl gets to the scene, he believes them. What follows is a
masterful police procedural thrillerthink Joe Wambaugh crossed with
Fargowritten with a singular and authentic voice that has electrified readers
around the world."
According to the book description of The Big Thaw, "The pair of
frozen corpses were found under a tarp in the machine shed of an empty
farmhouse. Two males -- brothers -- both killed by bullets from a Russian
automatic fired at close range. The cops have a suspect: a man Deputy Sheriff
Carl Houseman busted five years earlier and the county's lead suspect in a
series of recent robberies. Houseman knows they have the wrong guy. He also
knows they've got something bigger than a burglary gone bad ... especially when
the FBI starts showing up in Maitland. The brutal double homicide is just the
tip of the iceberg in a case where a killer's trail keeps disappearing like
footprints in freshly fallen snow, and where one bad break can send a good cop
into a deep freeze.
According to the book description of Eleven Days, In a mesmerizing debut,
cop-turned-author Donald Harstad uses real-life events to paint a jarring
picture of crime in America's heartland--where two-stoplight towns no longer
offer refuge from modern-day brutality. Life in Maitland, Iowa, is usually
predictable, even for a cop. But all that changes the day Deputy Sheriff Carl
Houseman's dispatcher receives the terrifying 911 call. The day cops find the
mutilated bodies at a remote farmhouse. The first of eleven days Carl will never
forget. As hotshot investigators fly in from New York, Carl and his fellow cops
use old-fashioned detective work to piece together clues. But to turn suspicions
into suspects, Carl must search among his closest friends to find a killer who
has shocked and bewildered cops who'd thought they'd seen it all. And before
it's over, Carl will be forced into an unrelenting spiral of chaos, coming
face-to-face with evil he never dreamed could exist in Maitland...or anywhere
else."
According to the book description of Known Dead, "Donald Harstad,
a 26-year police veteran, has firsthand knowledge of small town police
departments. This background enables him to create the authentic details,
realistic dialogue, and suspenseful twists in Known Dead. Deputy Sheriff Carl
Houseman is dozing in his cruiser near parklands in Nation County, Iowa when he
hears popping sounds. Immediately, his radio screams to life with a call for
assistance. What started as a simple raid on a marijuana patch has erupted into
high-power gunfire. As the air clears, two men are known dead. But who was
firing, and what else are they protecting? Houseman will find few heroes as he
follows a convoluted trail that leads from the marijuana plants to an elusive
international operator. By the time the case is closed, "known dead" has taken
on a new meaning for him. Ron McLarty's dramatic narration highlights Houseman's
increasingly ironic attitude toward life and his profession."
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