The Tamarack Murders: A Bo Tully Mystery (Sheriff Bo Tully Mysteries) Hardcover – April 1, 2013

This is an entertaining but not great mystery. Good outdoors details. Mildly humorous. I did not enjoy it as much as Mr. McManus' humorous essays and tales.

Best short story author ever.

If you're the type of mystery reader who sometimes prefers your murders to be served up with a smile-- and if you're caught up with all of Craig Johnson's Longmire books-- let me recommend Patrick McManus's Sheriff Bo Tully series. They don't necessarily have to be read in order, but some of the characters and events might be a bit clearer to you if you do.Sheriff Bo Tully is a man who always has an eye for the ladies, and for the most part the ladies of Blight County have just as much fun as Bo does. But Bo is really a crime-solving natural who uses his in-depth knowledge of the area and its inhabitants to close his cases. His investigations often delve into the history of the area a little as well, which brings a bit of the Old West into the story.As in other books in the series, Bo tends to be a couple of steps ahead of readers and the other characters in The Tamarack Murders, something that usually annoys me in other mysteries, but it doesn't here. Bo is one savvy sheriff, and it quickly becomes apparent that his attempts to remain those two steps ahead are mostly to prevent any harm from coming to his team.Down-home humor plays an important part in the book, and a little old lady named Vera steals the show from Bo. Her scenes alone are well worth reading the book.If you like mysteries that are light, fun, and quirky from first page to last, I think it's time you introduced yourself to Bo. But be warned: if you're female, this here sheriff is a dyed-in-the-wool lady's man.

Having read all of the Bo Tully mysteries, I would recommend this addition to any Tully fans. Like some others have mentioned, it is shorter than the other books. Partly, that may be because the book starts "in the action" with no build up to a crime like we've seen in previous books. And like others, I did notice how some characters only showed up for a limited time, and I felt some loose ends weren't tied up as neatly as in past books. But for those who don't know, this is the first Tully mystery with a different publisher, so I don't know how much was changed through editing. On the positive side, this book flowed quickly. In many ways, it was a smooth transition from the Huckleberry Murders. The cast of characters (and they are truly characters) remained, and as a fan of all of them, I was glad to see them back. Pap filled us in with a great story of canoeing passed a haunted mansion, Dave the Indian shows his skill set as always. Daisy, Lurch and the rest fill in their niches quite well. Overall, I feel this is an above average book. I would like to see this book, like The Blight Way and The Huckleberry Murders, made into an audiobook.

I love Mr. McManus' work. Having said that, this doesn't feel like a product from Mr. McManus.Initially, at the crime scene, so much is revealed, that it is hard to feel like this is a small town department, famous for adhering to the "Blight way". Instead if feels as though it is a division of interpol with a skeleton crew of experts that deduce information at an unbelievable rate within the span of a few pages.At other times in the book, information is repeated consecutively. A character has an internal dialog remarking that a person works at a certain establishment, and then requests that a deputy contact that person. The deputy then responds, "Oh, the person who works at that certain establishment?" There are at least three instances of this and it is not only poor writing, but it is jarring enough to take the reader out of the book, and disrupts any flow the author my be cultivating.There are passages that are simply not consistent. The sheriff says he drops off weapons to the "crime scene unit". A page later, he tells the crime scene unit deputy to retrieve the weapons from the sheriff vehicle.Patrick McManus is a great writer. This book is not great writing. I bought this book without reading any reviews, because I really love this author, but this book has left me frustrated, as well as confused as to why this book left the front door of the publishing house when it is riddled with inconsistencies.Pick up another Bo Tully mystery, or any other Patrick McManus book. You'll be far happier.

Fun quick read for mystery lovers. Patrick McManus is always fun.

I'm a big Patrick McManus fan, I especially like his Bo Tully books...except this one.It's short, very short...more of a longish short story than his regular Bo Tully/Blight Way books. At least 100 pages shorter than his normal mysteries.He was sleep-walking through this one...he included the cast of characters from his other books...so everyone was there, but almost a parody. His father Pap was along, but barely, Clarence wiggling into Scaggs arms, Dee Dee saw Pap off, Pat's mom was given credit for making preserves, Tracker Dave and his restaurant food, Lurch, Daisy etc. etc. etc made appearances, but more like everybody had to show up but not add to the story....but they didn't do anything this book but act as weak copies repeating the same lines in past books. It was a very very weak effort.Even a bad Patrick McManus book is readable...but I kept waiting for something to happen, to have the characters become alive as they have in the past. Not this time, everyone was barely going through the motions...and it showed.Get this book from the library,

Quirky characters rule a brief story about a bank heist gone wrong. Bo loves the bevy of lovely ladies surrounding him, but doesn't explain why he got rid of Clarence the dog.. He manages to put the finger of suspicion on the charming bad guy ok and solves the case using the Blight Way of evidence gathering..

While being quite reminiscent of the Walt Longmire stories, Sheriff Bo Tully's tale is pretty good. Lots of murders in Blight County, Idaho need to be solved the Blight way. Throw in a wily bad guy and three or four love interests and you have a pretty good read.

Another fun story by Patrick McManus. He keeps you trying to find a twist and includes all the main characters from the past Bo Tully Mystery Stories.

A very marginal story with ridiculous dialogue.All things considered, an absolute waste of time.Hopefully a one book series.

It was a very weak story line and read like a rough draft. Lines repeated and matters not fleshed out. Not recommended!