Dan Rhodes, the sheriff of Blacklin County, Texas, has seen more than his share of strange events during his time in office-most recently he exorcised a ghost from the county jail and he has always tolerated the banter between his elderly jailer and dispatcher. However, not even Hack and Lawton's friendly word play could have prepared him for the group of writers that have descended upon Blacklin County. When Vernell Lindsey, Clearview's newly published romance novelist, decides to hold a romance writer's convention, residents think this will finally get their town on the map. They are even more excited when they learn that former Clearview resident Terry Don Coslin will headline the event-Terry Don is now the most sought after male cover model for these very novels. Rhodes doesn't understand why so many people are interested in writing, but this becomes the least of his concerns when a local aspiring novelist is found dead in her room at the college. Was her death the work of a jealous rival? Or did her new book get a bit too close to certain people's real lives? As he investigates, Rhodes begins to learn more about the publishing industry and some sordid facts Terry Don. Is he at all connected to the murder? When another murder occurs, Rhodes receives the unwelcome aid of two aspiring novelists, eager to switch from romance to mysteries. Their theories are a little too far from the truth, but Rhodes does make some headway on his own. Relying on his trademark common sense and cunning and the help of his deputy sheriff Ruth Grady, Rhodes is able to solve the murders although he still can't figure out why so many people want to write a novel. You'd think peace would reign in a small Texas town like Clearview, but Sheriff Dan Rhodes tackles plenty of tough and dangerous cases. In Crider's eleventh Rhodes mystery, his laconic, canny hero finds himself in a strange parallel universe when a local gal, Vernell Lindsey, now a romance writer, and local celebrity Terry Don Coslin, who, with his Fabio looks, has become the romance cover boy, hold a romance writer's conference. A flock of chattering and colorful Nora Roberts wanna-bes convene, eager for advice, but before the first night is over, one is dead and several are murder suspects. As Rhodes investigates, he learns more than he wants to know about the vicious competition among romance writers. Hair-pulling catfights, blatant lies and jealousy, a potentially fatal explosion, and a pair of red bikini underwear all add to the mystery and the fun. Wry and witty, Crider affectionately satirizes the mania for writing and fame that, taken to extremes, can turn romance into a blood sport. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Bill Crider lives in Alvin, Texas, where he serves as chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College. His first Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery, Too Late to Die , won an Anthony Award for Best First Novel. A Romantic Way to Die 1THE CLEARVIEW WAL-MART WAS ALWAYS CROWDED. SOMETIMES it seemed to Sheriff Dan Rhodes as if the Wal-Mart were, in fact, the only store in town, and that half the population could be found there at any given hour. Which wasn't too far from the truth, considering that the downtown section of Clearview had virtually disappeared over the course of the last few years. Well, it hadn't disappeared so much as been abandoned. And then some of the buildings had started falling down. Rhodes didn't much like to drive through what was left of downtown these days.But as the downtown had crumbled, the area around the Wal-Mart had thrived. There was a new restaurant called the Round-Up, a new car dealership, a Sears catalog-order and appliance store, a big grocery store, and even a McDonald's. No wonder the parking lot was crowded.But it was even more crowded than usual because something special was going on, something bigger than anything that had happened at the Wal-Mart since Elijah Ward had chained himself to the exit door and tried to keep the customers from leaving.That had been Ward's way of protesting the death of downtown Clearview, although it hadn't worked out quite the way Ward had planned. Before too long Ward himself had been deader than downtown, but that was another story.The Wal-Mart was crowded today because there was a book-signing going on. The book was Wild Texas Wind, and the author was Ashley Leigh, better known to residents of Clearview as Vernell Lindsey, a local resident who had been trying for years to sell a romance novel and who had finally succeeded.But although Vernell had become moderately notorious in Clearview for having written what some people considered a pretty sexy book, she was not the main attraction: Terry Don Coslin was there, too.Terry Don had grown up in Clearview, gone away to college about ten years previously, and been discovered by a modeling agency. He had become a popular cover guy for paperback historical romanc