Book Review: A Long December

Reviewed By: Dusty Rhoades - RAM

A Long December     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Donald Harstad
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: Carl Houseman # 5

This is the fifth book featuring Don Harstad’s rural deputy Carl Houseman. It doesn’t really hurt not have read the others, though, since Carl doesn’t seem to change much from book to book. He’s still the same solid, competent, steady lawman he was in the first book, “Eleven Days” (the only other one in the series that I’ve read). This may disappoint people who expect lots of high interpersonal drama, angst, and what have you, but it works just fine for Don Harstad’s books. Houseman’s not complicated and moody. He’s not “dangerous”. After hours, he doesn’t go nurse a shot of rotgut whiskey in a smoky bar. He goes home and eats the lasagna his wife left in the fridge for him. But he’s appealing because he’s a genuinely good guy, the kind you can imagine having over to your house for beer and barbecue, and that makes you care about what happens to him.

As the book begins, Houseman and some of his colleagues (including the hyper competent dispatcher Sally) are pinned down in an old barn, outgunned by unknown assailants with automatic weapons. The back-story unfolds in flashback, wherein Houseman describes the investigation of what looks at first like a drug related killing among Nation County Iowa’s growing immigrant community, but which quickly develops into something much more sinister.

One of the things I enjoy about Don Harstad’s work is the attention to detail. He has a sharp eye for the small bits and pieces of rural life and the routines of police work in the early 21st century. The first book almost bogged down in these kind of details, and there are a couple of rough spots here (I really didn’t need to know every piece of clothing Carl put on to go to the stakeout), but Harstad seems to have learned a bit more restraint.

All in all, an above average read. Four stars.

Dusty Rhoades - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dusty Rhoades - RAM