Robert Sims Reid was a detective for the Missoula Police
Department (Montana). He is the author of six novels: Benediction, Cupid, Wild Animals, The
Red Corvette, Max Holly and Big Blue Sky.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, The
Red Corvette is about “Old murder, old men and a sleepy Midwestern town whose French name suggests deep-rooted
evil frame Reid's latest well-crafted mystery featuring retired Rozette, Montana, policeman Leo Banks. Sarah and Gerry
Heyman, who were, respectively, Leo's major love and his best friend in college in the '60s, unexpectedly visit Rozette
during a summer trip out West with their children. A few months later, Sarah calls to ask Leo to investigate Gerry's murder
in the southern Illinois town of Mauvaisterre. Lots of small-town atmosphere, another death and the sins of fathers and sons
lead to a rousing nighttime stampede during a harvest fair and a credible resolution”
According
to Publisher’s Weekly Wild Animals, “Big-time politics
brings mayhem to Rozette, Mont., as Reid makes a simplistic point about the evils of civilization and the virtues of wildness.
When an ex-president is scheduled to stump locally for Senate candidate Merle Puhl, Detective Ray Bartell thinks being assigned
to the Secret Service security detail will be "a lot of fun"-until the campaign takes an intense interest in ex-con
Henry Skelton, who may be responsible for the recent bombing of a helicopter. Bartell thinks Skelton just wants to be left
alone, an opinion he retains even after his police car explodes following an uneasy chat with Skelton. Associates of the ostrich-ranching
Puhl continue to insist, however, that Skelton is a major threat, and the police begin to wonder just whose side Bartell is
on. As the tension mounts, it becomes apparent what a bad idea it was to corner Henry Skelton. Reid (The Red Corvette), himself
a Montana detective, writes good country-cop talk and draws his characters well-except for the women, who have a hard time
understanding all that noble torment beneath the stoic male exterior. The face-off between Bartell and Skelton is gripping,
but the government-bashing and romanticizing of wild men is beyond tired.”
According
to Publisher’s Weekly Cupid,
“A police detective in real life, Reid ( Big Sky Blues ) spins a lively yarn about big-time murder in a small-time
Missouri town. He's in his element relating the strategy and details of investigation; however, occasional attempts at
profound observation and repartee fall flat. When detective Leo Banks is called out to investigate a shooting, the scene brings
to mind a nightmare from his past: the victim is Sky King Hudson, a drug dealer who once nearly killed him. Because of this
connection, Banks is pulled from the case, but he soon has another murder on his plate: a 22-year-old woman with an arrow
through her heart and a dragon tattooed on her buttock. A man called Fisher White sports a similar dragon, but before Banks
can question him, orders come down: hands off White. In some unofficial snooping, Banks discovers that White is in cahoots
with a local FBI agent. Soon another Fed arrives and, claiming that Department of Defense security matters are involved, tries
to squelch the investigation. As Banks disentangles the web of deceit surrounding the murders, he learns that few people are
what they seem, whether criminal or victim.”
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