“He had all the personality of the Ebola virus. I hadn’t liked him on sight, and I wasn’t sure why.”

Yes! Hap and Leonard are back for another crazy adventure! In this novella we have short, sharp dose of Hap and Leonard along with Brett, Chance and police detective Marvin. As usual they solve the crime but get into a whole lot of trouble along the way.

Coco Butternut is a long deceased beloved prize-winning dog who is stolen from the graveyard and held for ransom. The owner of the grave yard wants to pay the blackmailer and so he hires Hap and Leonard to help him ensure that dog is returned when the ransom is paid. All goes smoothly but not smooth enough for our detecting duo who sense that something is off and as is usual for them they decide to investigate and suddenly bodies start to appear.

This is a great story with our madcap heroes and their clandestine and humorous ways of investigating. I got through it quite quickly but it went down like a cup of espresso. Just the right H and L kick and a nice prep for the latest full length novel.

Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

'Coco Butternut' by Joe R. Lansdale is another kooky adventure with Hap and Leonard. They always manage to find their way into the strangest circumstances.

This time around, the strangeness revolves around the mummified corpse of a prized family pet that is being ransomed. Hal and Leonard are brought in to help with the transaction. In typical Hal and Leonard fashion, things don't go as expected, which leads to death, dead bodies, and a trip to the pet cemetary to dig up more corpses.

I've only read a few stories with these two, but they are really great characters. I enjoyed this one, and while the solution wasn't all that great, it was all about the journey.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Subterranean Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

Coco Butternut has been abducted and is being held for ransom. Coco Butternut is a dachshund. A show dog. A dead show dog to be precise. It's okay, the dog was already dead when it was abducted. The owner still wants to pay the ransom and get the dead dog back. Sound strange? Welcome to the world of Hap and Leonard.

The money is good and the job seems easy enough so Hap and Leonard take the case. All they have to do is meet someone in a graveyard, at night, pay a ransom, and retrieve a dead dog. What could possibly go wrong? Remember, we're talking about Hap and Leonard here.

Coco Butternut is a fun, mildly weird novella featuring the unlikely duo of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. It's got witty dialogue, a decent amount of action, and can be read in a single (short) sitting.

I highly recommend it to all readers of witty crime fiction especially those, like myself, with a taste for stories that feature eccentric or quirky characters.

3 1/2 Stars

Hap and Leonard (and their two accomplices) return for another zany caper. Forever short on funds, the two agree to another weird job. The deceased body of a beloved wiener dog has gone missing from the cemetery and the dognapper wants cash or else . . . Hap and Leonard step in to make the exchange.

Sure sounds easy enough to me. All they need to do is hand over the cash, grab the dead dog and collect their pay day. Nothing is ever that easy with these two. Unable to leave well enough alone, they discover things they shouldn't know and find themselves wrapped up in a little mystery that they can’t let alone.

I’ve missed a few Hap and Leonard books somewhere along the way and now they are apparently running a PI service with Hap’s girlfriend and his grown daughter Chase (where’d she come from?!). This was a little disconcerting but it’s my fault for reading the series out of order, as I do. The characters are smart-asses as always but they didn’t seem to have that dark sarcastic edge to their insults that used to make me laugh, almost out loud. This installment was also pretty tame when it came to the violence and I never felt as if any of our leads were in grave peril.

It was entertaining but a little too tame for my expectations

Published by Subterranean Press on January 31, 2017

Coco Butternut is a novella-length story. It isn’t the funniest Hap & Leonard story I’ve read but it has its moments. More than enough moments, in fact, to earn a recommendation, at least for readers who are familiar with the characters.

Hap and Leonard are called upon to deliver money to a blackmailer in exchange for the disinterred body of a mummified dachshund named Coco Butternut. The job seems simple, but nothing is ever simple for Hap and Leonard.

As usual when Hap and Leonard get involved in a case, dead bodies appear. Human bodies, not just the mummified dog. And as usual, getting paid doesn’t work out quite as they planned.

Hap’s daughter Chance plays a supporting role in the story, as well as his partner/lover Brett. Adding to the banter is their primary role, but it’s hard to top the banter that Hap and (especially) Leonard provide as they point out each other’s faults.

Coco Butternut doesn’t advance the characters, but it tells an amusing story that fans will appreciate. I suspect that newcomers will benefit from reading earlier installments in the series before turning their attention to this one.

Joe Lansdale has written excellent novels and stories across a variety of genres. I enjoy Hap and Leonard and I’m glad Lansdale is achieving financial success with those characters, but I hope he finds time to diversify his current output. Not that it matters much, because I enjoy everything he writes. He’s a fine storyteller and his irreverent sense of humor matches my own, but I'm an even bigger fan of his not so funny but exceptionally chilling horror novels.

RECOMMENDED

I never thought I'd see the day when this series became uninteresting. The only thing that made it bearable to read was that it was short. I don't recommend this at all.

Coco Butternut is the name of a prize-winning dachshund that was mummified by it's eccentric owner after it died and the body was stolen and held for ransom. It is also the title of Lansdale's latest short Hap and Leonard novella. The mystery is something out of The Hardy Boys, i.e. Not very hard to figure out, but that's not why you read a Hap and Leonard tale. You read them for the banter back and forth between the two. I do have to admit this one is a very vanilla offering amongst the catalog, but a quick read nonetheless. Think of it as Lansdale fast food. It gets the job done, but there's not a lot of substance.

3 1/2 Pickled Wieners out of 5


*This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


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