"The Hanging of Samuel Ash"

"The Hanging of Samuel Ash" is the 4th book in the Hook Runyon Mystery series by Sheldon Russell.  Russell lives in Waynoka, OK and is the award-winning author of seven novels as well as having taught at the University of Louisville.  He's professor emeritus at the University of Central Oklahoma and you can visit his web site at www.sheldonrussell.com.

This is the first of Russell's books that I have read so I must have picked this one up off the local library's "best picks" display.  I like his lead character, Hook Runyon, and plan to read the first book in this series next.  Although the book involves investigating the hanging of a young man on railroad property (and Hook is the railroad detective), there is a subtle underlying humor throughout the book that also keeps the tone a little lighter and I found the mix just right.

Hook is supposed to be chasing some pickpockets operating along the Santa Fe rail line with the help of Junior Monroe -- an overeducated young man who has been thrust on him for training.  When he finds the body hanging on railroad property, though, he can't just bury him in a pauper's grave and move on.  He finds a bronze star with the name Samuel Ash engraved on it and feels he owes it to this young World War II hero to make sure he is buried at home where people know him and can mourn for him.  However, getting to the truth of where that is while putting off his boss (who just wants the body buried and Hook moving on with his job) becomes slightly more complicated than Hook realizes it will be and also puts him at some personal risk.  pazt