BAD CHILI

N.Y.: Mysterious Press, 1997. First edition, September 1997, so stated. with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. Texas locale with Hap & Leonard. "Leonard Pine is distraught. His lover, Raul, has left him for a biker. Leonard's pal and sleuthing partner, Hap Collins, wants to be there for his buddy, but before Hap can help, the biker is found headless. Leonard is quickly dismissed as a suspect, but then Raul's body is discovered, extensively tortured. Clearly, the LaBorde, Texas, police department has no interest in solving what is viewed only as a homosexual killing. Leonard can't let it go. He and Hap descend into a vortex of police corruption, gay bashing for video profit, and a truly bizarre business scam, all masterminded by the local chili king. Lansdale is in top form with this latest Collins-Pine caper. Where else in the mystery world could one find a plot that hinges on the big money to be made in recycled restaurant grease--and, as an aside, a critique of the Gilligan's Island reunion movie. Lansdale is politically correct one minute and politically incorrect the next, simultaneously funny and tragic, and wildly profane yet invariably humane. In his unique way, he reveals the human condition--our darkest secrets and our proudest moments, all within the unlikely confines of an East Texas adventure featuring the two scruffiest protagonists in modern crime fiction." -- Publishers Weeky. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.