Sunset and Sawdust - Tapa dura

Joe R. Landsdale's new novel is a gripping crime thriller set in Texas at the start of the 1930s oil boom.

When Pete Jones, the local constable, is shot dead, his widow, Sunset, finds herself in his job, investigating a series of brutal murders. Most of the townsfolk object to her wearing Pete's gun and badge, some because this is the 1930s and they think a woman's place is in the home, others because it was Sunset who blew off Pete's head in the first place.

As much a modern western as a murder mystery, SUNSET & SAWDUST features a cast of outlandish characters -- gun-men, hobos, sheriffs, hookers, migrants and coloured families struggling to make living under the malevolent eyes of the Ku Klux Klan.

Sunset's investigation leads her and her friends into a labyrinth of greed, corruption, and unspeakable malice. Nothing and no-one are quite what they seem in Texas.

SUNSET & SAWDUST is a wildly energetic novel and Sunset Jones is an unforgettable heroine.