Bad Country, CB McKenzie
Bad Country, CB McKenzie
4 Rating(s)
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Bad Country

Author: CB McKenzie

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Unabridged: 10 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/04/2014

Synopsis

Winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize, Bad Country is a debut mystery set in the Southwest starring a former rodeo cowboy turned private investigator, told in a transfixingly original style.Rodeo Grace Garnet lives alone, save for his old dog, in a remote corner of Arizona known to locals as the Hole. He doesn’t get many visitors, but a body found near his home has drawn police attention to his front door. The victim is not one of the many illegal immigrants who risk their lives to cross the border just south of the Hole, but is instead a member of one of the local Indian tribes.Retired from the rodeo circuit and scraping by on piecework as a private investigator, Rodeo doesn’t have much choice but to say yes when offered an unusual case. An elderly Indian woman has hired him to help find who murdered her grandson, but she seems strangely uninterested in the results. Her indifference seems heartless, but as Rodeo pursues his case, he learns that it’s nothing compared to true hatred—and he’s about to realize just how far hate can go.Capturing the rough-and-tumble corners of the Southwest in accomplished, confident prose, with a hard-nosed plot that will keep readers riveted, Bad Country not only won the Hillerman Prize but also the Spur Award for Best Western Contemporary Novel and was a finalist for a New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel, and the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

About CB McKenzie

CB McKenzie, a Texas native, has been a lifeguard, haute couture model, carpenter, housepainter, waiter, farmhand, teacher, and factory worker in a wide variety of locales around the world, including Hamburg, Miami, Milan, Tokyo, and Tucson. He earned both an MFA and a PhD from the University of Arizona and was a full-time faculty member at Pima Community College. Though he currently teaches at City University of New York, he still keeps his pickups in Tucson and Texas.

About Mark Bramhall

Mark Bramhall has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, more than thirty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has repeatedly been named by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly among their “Best Voices of the Year.” He is also an award-winning actor whose acting credits include off-Broadway, regional, and many Los Angeles venues as well as television, animation, and feature films. He has taught and directed at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

Reviews

Goodreads review by SUSAN *Nevertheless,she persisted* on October 31, 2015

There have been many words used to describe a book...raw..riveting..dark.. Captivating..relentless..intriguing..memorable..unforgettable..driven.. Unique..phenomenal..unputdownable..gripping..compelling..,but few books I have ever read could be described by all of these words. I freaking loved this boo......more

Goodreads review by Adilia on November 11, 2014

BAD COUNTRY delivers a plot-driven genre-mashing mystery that I could not put down. Set in Tucson’s Sonoran Desert, the prose performs its spare and beautiful landscape. Yet as rugged as BAD COUNTRY’S “good” and “bad” guys are, there are laugh out loud moments. As a former Tucsonan, CB McKenzie nail......more

Goodreads review by Nan on November 20, 2014

I do not usually read masculine 'cowboy' crime mysteries, but this one drew me in and held me throughout. The plot was thick and interesting, but especially compelling was the stark yet descriptive writing, for example: "Stay away from the Sirenas of this world and get you a plain woman who thinks a......more

Goodreads review by Jean on February 06, 2017

A friend of mine discovered this book on the book list from the California Books for the Blind. She thought I might enjoy the book and she was correct, I did. This book won the Spur Award for 2015 Best Contemporary Western Novel. It also won the Tony Hillerman Prize for 2015. The book was also a fin......more

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on February 07, 2015

CB McKensie's "Bad Country" is a private investigation detective story set in the bleak Southwest about murder and revenge. This is an unapologetic look at a rural and inhospitable slice of America and the lawmen, criminals, hustlers, murderers, killers, families and lovers, who live there. Rodeo, w......more

Quotes

“Terrific crime/suspense/mystery novel, but the real revelation is his fresh and original voice.” Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A charged and unique southwest story that rings with an authenticity rarely seen in crime fiction.” Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author

“This dirt-filled noir debut about a former rodeo cowboy turned private investigator has already earned comparisons to Cormac McCarthy, and the stark Southwestern setting might hold you over if you’re still suffering from Breaking Bad withdrawal.” Esquire

“Bleak but elegantly told…as dry and gritty as desert sand, just right for scouring this harsh landscape of cheap motels, run-down trailer parks, and Indian trading posts selling polyester blankets.” New York Times Book Review

“One of the strongest debuts to come along in years.” Cleveland Plain Dealer

“An outstanding first novel written with clarity and authority and featuring a Southwest whose spare beauty covers unspeakable crimes and a detective who’s tough, honorable and authentic to the core.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Drawing on [a] mélange of quirky personalities and southwestern settings, McKenzie offers the reader an intriguing mystery and a new hero.” Publishers Weekly

“This edgy noir offers a master class on how to create a vivid sense of mood and place. Rodeo is a hard-nosed, hard-drinking man who searches for the truth as he understands it. Fans of the late, great Hillerman will cheer the arrival of a promising newcomer.” Library Journal

“Garnet is a protagonist who’s private to his core as he operates in the worlds of the Anglo and the Indian but seems to belong to neither…This is a fine example of southwestern noir.” Booklist

“A hard-boiled noir crime thriller…Tony Hillerman would have loved it. So did I.” Michael McGarrity, author of Backlands

Awards

  • Tony Hillerman Prize
  • Edgar Allan Poe Award
  • Spur Award
  • Shamus Award
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