Praise for Hap and Leonard
[Starred] “Last seen in the novel Honky Tonk Samurai, Lansdale’s incomparable East Texas crime fighting duo show their chops in this remarkable story collection. Hap Collins, a straight, white liberal, and Leonard Pine, a black, gay conservative, have long challenged genre conventions, and the friendship and camaraderie between these two hard cases as they suit up against injustice and hypocrisy is at the heart of these seven tales. In the novella “Hyenas,” the boys help save a client’s impressionable younger brother from the clutches of a group of psychotic robbers. “Dead Aim” finds the pair taking on the Dixie Mafia after a seemingly straightforward cheating spouse case gets a tad more complicated. “Not Our Kind” is set against the backdrop of the late 1960s, when a teenage Hap first befriends Leonard and faces the racism and intolerance of his peers up close. Readers can also look forward to the debut of the TV show Hap and Leonard on the Sundance Channel in March.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Seven laid-back adventures, one of them brand new, for ‘freelance troubleshooter’ and good old boy Hap Collins and his gay black Republican partner Leonard Pine. . . . No one currently working the field demonstrates more convincingly and joyously the deep affinity between pulp fiction and the American tall tale.”
—Kirkus
“As Mr. Lansdale might say, ‘This was more fun than rolling down a hill with a bunch of armadillos.’”
—Horror Novel Reviews
“. . . it’s great to have all of these wonderful stories together in one nifty volume”
—Horror Drive-In
“It has all the hard to find short stories featuring Hap and Leonard, the most enjoyable mismatched pair of private eyes since Spenser and Hawk.”
—Sons of Spade
“East Texas charm, profane wit, and strong characterization, with enough snappy dialogue to keep a smile on your face . . . excellent entertainment, edge-of-your-seat action one minute, gut-busting humor”
—Adventures in Genre Fiction
“This collection is crime/pulp fiction at its best and most captivating.”
—Risingshadow
“short, concentrated bursts of everything that makes the series so good.”
—October Country
“If you find yourself on the wrong side of Hap and Leonard, be cautious, because they are quicker than a rattlesnake, and their bite is just as bad. If you find yourself an innocent bystander looking for a great book to read, you’ve come to the right place.”
—Killer Nashville
“If you are a fan of the genre and looking for a new character to get into, Hap and Leonard won’t steer you wrong.”
—LitReactor
“For those new to either Lansdale or the series, this latest collection is an excellent introduction to the kind of trouble these two often find themselves in; all the while exchanging some of the funniest, lovingly antagonistic, and memorial dialogue of any crime series.”
—Bookgasm
“If you haven’t read any of the dozen or so Hap and Leonard novels, start here.”
—Lone Star Literary
“A perfect introduction”
—Booklist
Praise for Joe R. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series
“Hap and Leonard function as a sort of Holmes and Watson—if Holmes and Watson had had more lusty appetites and less refined educations and spent their lives in East Texas. . . . Not only funny, but also slyly offers acute commentary on matters of race, friendship and love in small-town America.”
—New York Times
“Lansdale 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.”
—Booklist
“Hilarious. . . . Addictively scarfable. . . . Lansdale excels at dialogue, especially Hap and Leonard’s lewd insult-a-thons. . . . Two thumbs-up, and pardon the barbecue smears.”
—Texas Monthly
“As usual, the dialogue is deadpan tart and the action extreme but convincing. . . . Lansdale once again proves he’s the East Texas master of redneck noir.”
—Publishers Weekly (on Hyenas)
