Blacklin County, Texas, Sheriff Dan Rhodes investigates a crime wave of emu-rustling and a murder that may be related to the theft of the valuable birds. By the author of Booked for a Hanging. This time out, Sheriff Dan Rhodes of Blacklin County, Texas, searches for emu rustlers and investigates a related murder. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. A story set in a dusty, dying Texas county where emu rustling, beer drinking, and cockfighting are the major recreational activities might sound too down home for sophisticated whodunit fans. And a murder where the victim is found floating down a creek in a porta-potty by a bunch of drunks might seem pretty humorous, but it's no joke to Sheriff Dan Rhodes, who has not one but two bodies on his hands. Lige Ward, a local fellow who's lost his hardware business to the big new Wal-Mart, is found in the toilet, and a few days later, the body of Ward's wife, Rayjean, is discovered in a cockfighting ring. Rhodes thought he knew what went on in his town, but to his chagrin, he discovers that not only did the locals hold illegal cockfights, but darned if they haven't been covering up a whole bunch of other nasty secrets. For readers tired of slick, glib, highly sophisticated mysteries, Crider's latest in an ongoing series is a breath of fresh air--a sort of "Mom's apple pie" police procedural that's fun, clever, humorous, well written, and highly entertaining. Emily Melton Another lazy canter around the track with Blacklin County (Tex.) Sheriff Dan Rhodes, who sees a misdemeanor charge rapidly accelerate to a felony when he opens a portable toilet that three drunks have tipped into Sand Creek to use for target practice and finds the late Elijah Ward sitting inside. Word is that Ward (known as ``Lige''), who'd already made his reputation with the law by repeatedly chaining himself to the exit door of the Wal-Mart that drove his hardware store out of business, had joined with newcomer Nard King to rustle emus, those trendy cousins of our friends the ostriches. A gaff in the dead man's pocket also links him to the cockfights that have obviously been going on right under the sheriff's beak. Then Lige's wife, Rayjean (with whom Lige's neighbor may have been carrying on), turns up dead in the middle of a cockpit. Homicide, emu rustling, cockfighting: Blacklin County's getting to be such a sink of iniquity it's a wonder unflappable Rhodes (Booked for a Hanging, 1992, etc.) doesn't pack it in for the more peaceful climes of Dallas or L.A. While they're waiting for him to come to his senses, his fans will enjoy this tale, another modest, drolly understated series of riffs. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Bill Crider chairs English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College in Alvin, Texas.