The Reluctant Sheriff by Chris Offutt

 

First Line: The employment application had a section about alcohol consumption and Harley Bolin lied that he never drank.

Ex-Army CID officer Mick Hardin is supposed to be retired, and he certainly never wanted to be sheriff. However, when his sister, Linda, is shot in the line of duty, Mick has to step in as interim sheriff while she recovers. Now he's stuck in the east Kentucky town of Rocksalt-- a place from which he's always wanted to escape.

Weary of the petty squabbles of Rocksalt's townspeople, it's eye-rolling business as usual until the investigation into the murder of a local bar owner focuses on an unlikely suspect who threatens to stir up Mick's past. Two more bodies turn up, and although they appear to be unconnected to the first, Mick finds himself dealing with another case that's not so open-and-shut as everyone thinks.

~

Anyone who hasn't feasted upon one of Chris Offutt's Mick Hardin novels needs to rectify the situation. These lean mean books immerse readers in the world of eastern Kentucky and the ways of the people who live there. In The Reluctant Sheriff, we also watch Johnny Boy Tolliver (last seen in the previous book, Code of the Hills) adapt to life on the French island of Corsica.

The stories ring true, and they can be explosive. Moreover, Mick Hardin is a character who's always looked after everyone else while ignoring his own needs. This series of books shows Mick becoming more self-aware. Excellent, fast-paced stories, a nuanced main character, and in-depth knowledge of a culture most of us know nothing about... all these things make Offutt's series a must-read, but there is one key element that I haven't mentioned yet. What's that? The descriptions of the landscape and nature. Mick Hardin is firmly rooted in the Kentucky hills. He knows all the trees, the plants, the animals. He can gauge what's going on in the woods by which birds are singing. This inclusion of the natural world draws me right into the story. 

And another draw? Offutt's power of description. "...he was lonely as the last leaf on a tree in winter." "That woman is tough as woodpecker lips." I love those!

By reading these books, I've joined Mick Hardin in his journey to turn his back on the past and embrace the future. It's a privilege to be able to be a part of it.

The Reluctant Sheriff by Chris Offutt

eISBN: 9780802164049

Grove Press © 2025

eBook, 288 pages

Noir, #4 Mick Hardin

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt

 

First Line: Janice drove slowly to avoid jostling the plastic containers of food on the floor behind her seat.

 

Mick Hardin has retired from the military. He plans to visit his sister in Kentucky and then head for a new life in Corsica. But plans have a habit of changing when you least expect it.

 

Mick's sister, Linda, is the recently reelected sheriff in Rocksalt, Kentucky. She and her deputy Johnny Boy Tolliver are investigating the murder of Pete Lowe, a talented mechanic at the local racetrack. Linda is shorthanded, so Mick reluctantly agrees to intervene in a family dispute. His intervention leads to his uncovering illegal cockfighting and another body that is somehow linked to Pete Lowe. 

 

Then Linda steps into harm's way, and Mick finds himself investigating the crimes himself.

 

~

 

I have been appreciating Chris Offutt's skill in characterization, in describing the landscape, and in acquainting his readers with the people and culture of the hills and hollers of eastern Kentucky. There is such a thing as the code of the hills, and it's brought to life here, even in the smallest of details such as the proper chair to sit in when visiting the home of a deceased man. Mick knows all these things, and readers can trust him to lead them through each situation.

 

I love Offutt's descriptive and often poetic language that can bring rural life into sharp focus: "...it scratched around in the back of his mind like a rat in a corn crib" or "...the junk store had been run by a man who was legendary for locking customers inside until they bought something." Having grown up in a small farm town, I'm familiar with playing in corn cribs (after being told not to), and of the "colorful" characters that can be found in rural communities. (Just ask me about Maxine.) I've also grown accustomed to taking note of the birds that make appearances in each of his books: indigo buntings, sparrows, crows, blue jays, owls, mourning doves, meadowlarks... Offutt has a way of bringing me right into the landscape so that I'm walking the hills right along with Mick.

Code of the Hills has a strong mystery and an even stronger setting and cast of characters. If you're the type of armchair sleuth who enjoys learning about out-of-the-way places and other cultures, make the acquaintance of Mick Hardin.

Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt

eISBN: 9780802161925

Grove Press © 2023

eBook, 220 pages

 

Noir, #3 Mick Hardin

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Shifty's Boys by Chris Offutt

 

First Line: At age eight, Albin decided to be a race-car driver when he grew up.

 

When the body of local heroin dealer Barney Kissick is found, the police mark his death as an occupational hazard and refuse to investigate. Barney's mother, Shifty, goes to someone she thinks she can trust in order to learn the truth about the death of her boy: Mick Hardin. Mick is an Army CID officer home on leave after an IED attack. He should be rehabbing his leg, weaning himself off painkillers, signing divorce papers, and staying out of the way of his sister's reelection campaign for sheriff. Instead, Mick tells Shifty he'll take a look. 

That look shows that there's more to the killing than it seems, so Mick keeps looking. And starts getting shot at himself.

~

After reading Chris Offutt's first Mick Hardin book, The Killing Hills, I looked forward to this second book, Shifty's Boys. Offutt has a way with language, setting, and characterization that I find impossible to resist.

Offutt's keen photographer's eye gives readers descriptive "snapshot" phrases that put them right into the Kentucky hills along with Mick Hardin and the rest of the characters. Readers see the flash of cardinals' wings and hear the breeze through the leaves of the trees. In fact, you could say that the setting is just as much a character in Shifty's Boys as the two-legged ones. The dialogue, too, makes me feel right at home, and comments such as "Them Ryans are so stuck up they'd drown in a hard rain" make me smile and think of my grandparents.

There's a bit of a Jack Reacher feeling to this book, as there was in The Killing Hills, and the plot often takes a backseat to the setting and the characters, but with the story's steady pace, I didn't mind a bit.  

 

I felt at home with the characters. After all, how can I turn my nose up at Mick who's let Roscoe the "house snake" live under his cabin's porch for ten years when I spent a summer sharing a poolside umbrella with a black widow spider? (Mick would probably think I was the strange one.) There are characters to love in Shifty's Boys. For example, Mick's sister, Linda, the sheriff who's up for reelection. She's known (and liked and respected) in the area for arresting her own brother. There's Jacky Turner, a genuine Mr. Fix-It with a penchant for inventing things "for the good of mankind." I also liked Albin the cab driver and was sorry to see him disappear once Mick's truck was repaired.

I even found a place that I wish I could visit: the "Coffee Tree, a bookstore that sold sandwiches and yarn." I figure my patronage alone would keep that place open. Chris Offutt's Mick Hardin books are centered around some of the real-life ugliness in a hard-hit part of Kentucky, but they're not just about the bad. Through reading his stories, readers also see the natural beauty of the landscape and the humor, heart, and resourcefulness of its people. Book three, here I come.

Shifty's Boys by Chris Offutt

eISBN: 9780802159991

Grove Atlantic © 2022

eBook, 272 pages

 

Noir, #2 Mick Hardin mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt

 

First Line: The old man walked the hill with a long stick, pushing aside mayapple and horseweed, seeking ginseng.

 

Combat veteran and Army CID agent Mick Hardin is home on leave in the Kentucky hills to be with his pregnant wife, but some news has caused a strain in their marriage. Mick's sister Linda is the newly elected sheriff and is in charge of her first murder investigation. But when local movers and shakers want to take the investigation out of her hands and put it in someone else's, she turns to her brother for help.

 

With his experience and knowledge of the area, Mick is perfect for clandestine fact-gathering. While he avoids calls from his commanding officer, Mick delves into the dangerous rivalries lurking beneath the surface of his fiercely private hometown. And in the back of his mind, he knows he can't keep on avoiding his wife.

 

Mick knows the name of the game is betrayal, both on a very personal level and between the clans that live deep within the hills and hollers of the place he calls home-- and he is all too aware of how quickly betrayal can turn into violence.

 

~

 

The booksellers at my favorite indie bookstore are responsible for making me notice Chris Offutt's The Killing Hills, and I'm glad I paid attention. Offutt's book made such an impression on me that I can't wait to read more of Mick Hardin's adventures.

 

The setting in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky is pitch-perfect with its deep woods, steep-sided trails, and plenty of places to hide. The residents of those hills and hollers are also vividly drawn, with their clannish affiliations and long memories. They find any way they can to survive, and the choices can be on the wrong side of the law. Life is hard there. So much so that it's the only area in the United States in which the life span is shorter than it was twenty years ago. 

 

The colloquial dialogue with its oftentimes humorous turns of phrase made me feel right at home, although if you're like my friend in Minnesota you may not cotton to the southernness of the language (she says with tongue in cheek). Don't worry, though. Offutt doesn't layer on that southern talk with a trowel, so you shouldn't be a bit confused.

Mick is definitely the star of the show, and I loved following him around as he investigated the murder. His knowledge of the people and the area are so profound that, once he knew the identity of the dead woman, he knew which people to question and which ones to watch. His success in dealing with these clannish people is due in equal parts to skill, familiarity, and magic. Watching him avoid danger in the woods by using simple tricks like knowing which bird calls means all's well is a joy and put me right beside him on the page.

 

Setting, dialogue, characters, mystery... the icing on the cake was the compassionate, intelligent way everything was wrapped up, from the solution to the murder to the strain between Hardin and his wife. I definitely need to read more of Chris Offutt's writing.

The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt

eISBN: 9780802158420

Grove Atlantic © 2021

eBook, 225 pages

 

Noir, #1 Mick Hardin mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.