argument with Skeeter the night before. Because the detained man is Mick's ex-wife's current husband, she asks him to investigate what is technically a city case. The case expands significantly when two more men, including a prominent local contractor, are murdered soon afterward by what appears to be the same gun that shot Skeeter.

I had high hopes for The Reluctant Sheriff, especially after Hardin’s investigation revealed ties to a shady business tycoon named Murvil Knox, who had hired the dead contractor on a major construction project. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed when the main storyline got lost in sidetracks and one major subplot that eventually went nowhere. That subplot involved Hardin’s former deputy, Johnny Boy Tolliver. In the last book in the series, Tolliver had a traumatic experience, which the author only hints at in The Reluctant Sheriff. (I didn’t read the earlier book, so I don’t know for sure what happened to Tolliver.) As a result, Hardin calls in a favor with an old army buddy and sends Tolliver to Corsica to recuperate. Meanwhile, no one in town knows what happened to him. That recuperation primarily involves Tolliver doing some manual labor, taking French lessons, and, most of all, taking up about one-third of the novel with his subplot.   

The Corsican subplot isn’t the only problem with the story. At one point, Hardin’s sister goes on a date with a local doctor who has some information about the case. The author spends an entire chapter discussing her preparation and the actual date (non-spoiler: pleasant but not exceptional) in prose that seems more fitting for a teen romance novel about prom night. Later, the author introduces a new character, an ex-girlfriend of Hardin who’s an MI6 agent. (I don’t know if she appeared in any earlier novels in the series.) Her only significant connection to the plot seemed to be providing additional highly trained firepower to help Hardin even the odds in the book’s climactic shootout with some bad guys.

Remove the subplots and padding, and The Reluctant Sheriff contains the basis for a solid 100-page novella. The author has a talent for language and captures the feel of the Kentucky hills perfectly. The dialogue has some gems, as when one character says, “he had a sudden failure to thrive,” regarding a dead man. Similarly, Hardin bonds with a potential witness who is watching an episode of Gunsmoke on television by mentioning that his papaw liked Gunsmoke. Unfortunately, “we lived too far in the woods for good reception. Had an antenna outside mounted on a post. Wasn’t worth a nickel.” When the potential witness asks why they didn’t get a satellite dish, Hardin replies: “Papaw said he wasn’t about to pay for something that ugly.”

The Reluctant Sheriff contains several samples of enjoyable dialogue and description. I especially enjoyed the anecdote about the bootlegger who built his house on the border between two dry counties. Whenever the sheriff of one county arrived to investigate, the bootlegger stayed on the other side of the house so the sheriff couldn’t arrest him. I also enjoyed the characters’ colorful names, such as the aforementioned Skeeter and Murvil, as well as one named Shifty.

However, the book contains several plot flaws besides the padding. Mick Hardin is a former army CID investigator. He investigates two murder scenes and does some preliminary forensic work. (Understandably, his department lacks the budget or personnel for advanced forensics.) The description of the forensic details seems to have been written by someone whose only familiarity with the subject came from watching a few episodes of CSI. (Offutt doesn’t appear to have any background in criminal investigation.) The description of the climactic shootout is exciting, but it feels incredibly contrived. Several characters die in the shootout, whose deaths can only be described as extremely convenient in terms of wrapping up the plot. As a result, the book’s conclusion seems hurried.

I enjoyed parts of The Reluctant Sheriff far more than the whole. The book gave me a genuine sense of place and contained several dialogue gems. However, the author failed to capitalize on a good story idea and spent too much time on subplots that weren’t effective. The way the case wrapped up was especially disappointing. Chris Offutt has considerable talent as a writer, but he didn’t display enough of it in this book.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.