46. The Double-Jack Murders, by Patrick F. McManus
This is the third book in the Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery series, but the first one I've read. It's an okay read, but not as funny as the crime novels and murder mysteries of some other humor writers (like Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen). McManus does better at short, humorous tales. Still, the story isn't bad. The sheriff of the fictional Blight County, Idaho (which readers of McManus's short stories and columns will recognize) is the number-one target of an escaped killer (although the guy enjoys murder, so he murders several other people while hunting for the sheriff), plus an old friend wants him to look into the disappearance of her father and a young employee some 80 years earlier. He manages to combine both rooting out the killer and looking for the answer to the very cold case, while camping, fishing, and doing things that are not completely legal in the bargain.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
