Prairie Gothic

J.M. Hayes’ laconic wit is custom-made for this small-town hullabaloo in the flatlands of Kansas.

-Elizabeth Gunn, author of the Jake Hines mysteries
It’s no easy trick to write about America with a clear eye for its faults and with warm humor. Mark Twain managed it, and so does J. M. Hayes, with admirable wit in the face of horror.
-John Orr, San Jose Mercury News As a howling blizzard blows down upon the sparsely-populated Benteen County seat of Buffalo Springs, Kansas, Sheriff English encounters a doll and a dead baby. Their bodies have been switched, but by whom? And why? The elderly coroner disclaims any knowledge, but seems uneasy when a swastika is revealed on the tiny corpse.
Meanwhile, the sheriff’s part-Cheyenne half-brother, Mad Dog Maddox, has collected a naked body from the Sunshine Towers retirement home and is headed toward a treetop burial when he is diverted by the storm. In a makeshift mound nearby, Mad Dog’s pet wolf-dog hybrid finds a child’s skull, evidence of adult bones, and a fading ID for a living County Supervisor. Can the Hornbaker clan really be as gothic as it seems? And what of the tiny woman in the red shoes back at the Towers who calls herself Dorothy…? Born and raised on the flat earth of central Kansas, J.M. Hayes graduated from Wichita State University and did another three years of post graduate work at the University of Arizona. He lives in Tucson, AZ, with his wife, several computers, four thousand or so books, and a small herd of German Shepherds. Prairie Gothic is second in his acclaimed Mad Dog and Englishman series. www.jmhayes-author.com