Patrick F. McManus

Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, has seen his share of small-town crime. Fact is, everyone in the area knows Tully, and knows his Blight Way of doing things. But when he and his deputy hike into the deep woods, tracking a suspected bank robber, little do they realize that they are about to witness a murder?and that, in turn, will lead the sheriff on an intricate trail, a series of twists and turns demanding his utmost attention and keenest crime-solving abilities. Along the way, Tully has to deal with the likes of a shadowy local named Gridley Shanks, who seems to have a spider web of connections throughout town; two out-of-town elk hunters who don’t know much about elk hunting, but are tied to the murder; an elderly couple who end up dead while caring for a rundown mansion and property out of town; a sassy assistant named Daisy; an attractive, tough FBI agent named Angie, who suddenly finds herself involved in her first murder investigation; and a host of other characters. There’s also the case of missing loot, which no one can find?at least, until Tully puts his mind to it. Will Tully get his man (or men) this time? Does the Blight Way ever fail? Read another page-turning mystery turned misadventure by bestselling author and beloved humorist, Patrick F. McManus. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, has dealt with small-town crime throughout his long, storied career. Now, contemplating retirement after years on the job, Tully is faced with perhaps his most perplexing case yet. When area bald eagles start getting picked off by a ghost-like killer, and when a prominent local rancher is murdered by an arrow with eagle fletching, things gets complicated fast. In this fast-paced whodunit, Tully has a vast array of suspects to chose from?including the rancher’s gorgeous, bird-loving wife who mysteriously leaves for a ranch in Mexico the day of the murder; the beautiful chef at the local house of ill repute, who is well-known as a budding ornithologist; and the ranch foreman, who is rumored to be having an affair with his boss’s widow.Will Tully put the pieces of the puzzle together, yet again? Will sending his dad, the former sheriff of Blight County, along with his number two man, down to Mexico help solve the mystery? And what about the mysterious large circles in the snow that Tully finds around the ranch?with no footprints leading in or out of the area?It all adds up to another engrossing series of twists and turns. And in the end, Tully gets his man . . . or woman . . . or does he?Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction?novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

New York Times Bestselling author! Pull up a chair and enjoy this hilarious original collection of McManus humor!The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories is a hilarious addition to Patrick F. McManus’s library of humor. He weighs in on his childhood, everyday life, and outdoor tales. His typical exaggerated commentary will elicit a belly laugh, whether you’ve been reading his tales for years or are new to his special blend of classic American humor.Read about the antics of Patrick’s friends Rancid Crabtree and Retch Sweeney in such stories as “Shaping Up for the Hunt” and “Bear Hunters.” McManus plays off the recent obsession with hoarders in his surprising story “The Lady Who Kept Things.” In the titular story, meet Patrick’s horse, Huckleberry, and enjoy the experience of all the problems that come along with owning your own horse—or keeping him in the garage.Other great stories include:“Catch-And-Eaters,” about the importance of a forked stick when fishing“$7,000 TV Historical Extravaganza,” a look at one director’s loose interpretation of historical accuracy and political correctness“A Lake Too Far,” concerning the woes of Patrick and his wife, Bun, on a fateful birding trip in Australia“Chicken Chronicles,” which involves Patrick’s memory of wandering around naked in the chicken yard when guests came to callSpend some time with Pat McManus. You won’t regret it.

Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, has seen his share of small-town crime. Fact is, everyone in the area knows Tully, and knows his Blight Way of doing things. But when he and his deputy hike into the deep woods, tracking a suspected bank robber, little do they realize that they are about to witness a murder—and that, in turn, will lead the sheriff on an intricate trail, a series of twists and turns demanding his utmost attention and keenest crime-solving abilities. Along the way, Tully has to deal with the likes of a shadowy local named Gridley Shanks, who seems to have a spider web of connections throughout town; two out-of-town elk hunters who don’t know much about elk hunting, but are tied to the murder; an elderly couple who end up dead while caring for a rundown mansion and property out of town; a sassy assistant named Daisy; an attractive, tough FBI agent named Angie, who suddenly finds herself involved in her first murder investigation; and a host of other characters. There’s also the case of missing loot, which no one can find—at least, until Tully puts his mind to it. Will Tully get his man (or men) this time? Does the Blight Way ever fail? Read another page-turning mystery turned misadventure by New York Times bestselling author, Patrick F. McManus.

The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories is a hilarious addition to Patrick F. McManus’s existing work in humor. The author weighs in on his childhood, everyday life, and outdoor tales with his typical exaggerated commentary that will elicit a belly laugh from all types of readers. Read about the antics of Patrick’s friends Rancid Crabtree and Retch Sweeney in such stories as “Shaping Up for the Hunt” and “Bear Hunters.” McManus plays off the recent obsession with hoarders in his surprising story “The Lady Who Kept Things.” In the titular story, meet Patrick’s horse, Huckleberry, and enjoy the experience of all the problems that come along with owning your own horse—or keeping him in the garage. Other great stories include: “Catch-And-Eaters,” about the importance of a forked stick when fishing “$7000 TV Historical Extravaganza,” a look at one director’s loose interpretation of historical accuracy and political correctness “A Lake Too Far,” concerning the woes of Patrick and his wife, Bun, on a fateful birding trip in Australia “Chicken Chronicles,” which involves Patrick’s memory of wandering around naked in the chicken yard when guests came to call So pull up a chair, sit back, and enjoy laughing to the hilarious adventures of Patrick F. McManus in The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories.

Sheriff Bo Tully is the brand of Western lawman who uses as much cunning and guile on the ladies as he does solving his cases. He's a man with a sense of humor and an instinct for the truth, which comes in handy when trying to capture killers and establish order in Blight County. Sheriff Tully is famous for his hunches--most recently, his suspicion that local retiree Orville Poulson has been murdered by his ranch caretaker, Ray Crockett, a sociopath with a criminal record. The only problem is that Tully has no evidence and no body to prove that a crime has been committed: supposedly, Orville is alive and well and cashing his Social Security checks from Spokane. But before Tully can follow up on Orville's whereabouts, three unidentified young men are found dead of gusnhot wounds to the head, execution style, in a huckleberry patch on Scotchman Mountain. With the help of confident and beautiful FBI agent Angela Phelps, Tully tries to connect the dots between Poulson's disappearance, the sudden spate of murders occurring in Blight County, and a big white pickup truck with dual tires wreaking havoc in the area. But when his few potential leads prove either impossible to track down or unexpectedly deceased, Tully must follow his instincts to piece together the puzzle of who is doing the killing, and why. His suspicions lead him straight into a haunted swamp, along with Agent Phelps, his womanizing ex-sheriff father, Pap, expert tracker and good friend Dave, and mountain man Poke. A twisty case packed with murder and mystery, The Huckleberry Murders is the most entertaining tale yet in this beloved series.

The third novel in Patrick F. McManus's bestselling mystery series finds Sheriff Bo Tully with his hands full of elusive killers, eccentric backwoods characters, and irresistible women in this latest romp through the wilds of Blight County, Idaho. Sheriff Bo Tully is the kind of western lawman who's as good with the ladies as he is with his guns, and he never lets a death threat get in the way of a good barbecue. He's a man with a sense of humor, which comes in handy when trying to establish order in Blight County. In this latest tale, Tully pursues a seventy-five-year-old missing persons case in which a pair of gold miners (a two-man drilling team known as a double-jack) mysteriously disappeared just as they hit the mother lode in a remote part of Blight County. Meanwhile, a second, more threatening case looms large. After serving only two months of a life sentence, a mentally unstable murderer named Kincaid--a nasty piece of work if there ever was one--manages to escape prison, setting his sights on killing the man who put him behind bars: one Sheriff Bo Tully. In an effort to lead his would-be killer into the open, and also to do a little gold prospecting and fishing while he's at it, Tully heads north with his ex-sheriff father, Pap, and his friend and expert tracker, Dave. As the two cases play themselves out, Sheriff Tully finds himself hunting down one murderer who's probably long dead, and being hunted by another who's very much alive. A fast-moving tale of murder, mayhem, and mining, The Double-Jack Murders is Patrick F. McManus's darkest, most entertaining mystery yet.

Patrick F. McManus's gently comic stories about outdoor life have earned him millions of fans worldwide. With Kerplunk!, McManus delivers a collection of folksy, wonderfully wise depictions of country life worthy of Mark Twain.In these tall tales, McManus and his buddies learn how not to net a fish, why you should never get your hair cut by someone who's mad at you, what to do when a deer wanders into camp but your sleeping bag has frozen shut, and how to avoid bird-dog flatulence. Traveling the highways and byways of the Pacific Northwest, the delightful backcountry characters of Kerplunk! understand how a life of hunting and fishing -- and its inherent potential for misadventure -- can resonate with larger meaning. McManus's characters know exactly why it costs $500 to make a fly lure that retails for $2; why installing a boat trailer hookup can lead to divorce; and, most important, why you should always listen for the sound of your fishing line hitting the water -- because in life as it is in fishing, you don't know you're in the water until you hear the kerplunk! These wry, curmudgeonly tales appeal to real outdoorsmen and the armchair variety alike. Often nostalgic, occasionally philosophical, and always funny, the stories in Kerplunk! reaffirm Patrick F. McManus's reputation as an American classic.

Sheriff Bo Tully of Blight County, Idaho, is back. Tully and his retired sheriff father, Pap, are on their way up to West Branch Lodge, a fancy mountain resort, to investigate a missing persons case when suddenly an avalanche thunders down the mountain. Tully just barely manages to outrun it in his car, but the road behind them is blocked and will be for a while, so they'll be spending much more time up at the lodge than they had planned. Which would be fine, if only the spoiled and snobbish guests of the lodge didn't think Tully, Pap, and their friend Dave Perkins didn't quite deserve to be there. Dave gets in a little tussle with some frat boys that leaves one of them wishing he'd never opened his mouth. In the midst of dealing with their various fellow guests, Tully and company find out that the avalanche dammed up West Branch River, and Tully has a brush with death when he rescues a couple of girls shacked up in one of the small cabins along the river. After that little adventure Tully's looking forward to a little rest and relaxation while waiting for the roads to clear, but instead runs into an old flame back at the lodge. She's married, but alone at the lodge for the week, and the possibility of an illicit affair looms…

From bestselling author Patrick McManus comes the first mystery starring Blight County sheriff, Bo Tully which Kirkus Reviews called “one of the most entertaining debuts in years.”Bo Tully, sheriff of Blight County, Idaho—and a fellow who dropped twenty pounds on Atkins—had been thinking about asking out Jan Whittle, his grade-school sweetheart. Problem is, he’s already promised to celebrate his dad’s seventy-fifth birthday with him. Thwarted romance proves to be the least of Bo’s problems, however, when a dead body turns up on Batim Scragg’s ranch. Forced to put on his sleuthing hat, Bo finds himself faced with a whole slew of possible suspects. And what quickly becomes apparent is that, while the sheriff’s investigative methods may not exactly be legal, they are, for better or worse, The Blight Way. A bestselling author with more than two million books in print, the curmudgeonly wit Patrick F. McManus delivers a page-turning mystery filled with mirth and misadventure set in hook-and-bullet territory.

Patrick McManus believes that life's eternal truths exist solely for the purpose of being overturned and proved incorrect. In McManus's world, nothing is what it should be. All steaks should be chicken-fried, strong coffee is drunk by the light of a campfire, and fishing trips consist of men acting like boys and boys behaving like the small animals we've always assumed they were. "Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing" is a hilarious collection from one of the greatest contemporary humorists: Dave Barry or Garrison Keillor with a twist of Mark Twain. In these adventures, McManus offers wry observations about small-town life and curmudgeonly insists on bigger and bigger fish stories.

A whimsical collection of writings considering situational ethics addresses such topics as why an elk will typically move in a direction that opposes a hunter's and why the distance of a fired shot counts more than the shot's success. Reprint. Tour.

With "a style that brings to mind Mark Twain, Art Buchwald, and Garrison Keillor" (People), Patrick F. McManus delivers another stellar collection of witty cautionary tales of the great outdoors in The Good Samaritan Strikes Again. Gathering together twenty-four of his hilarious essays--originally published in such magazines as Outdoor Life--this volume features not only McManus's follies with Mother Nature, but those of human nature as he shares such funny moments of his life as his first kiss, his public relations career, his less than helpful attempt to be a good Samaritan to an injured motorist, and so much more.

Best-selling outdoor humorist McManus (The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw) bags another in this collection of yarns featuring irascible woodsman Rancid Crabtree, "Phantom of the Woods" Retch Sweeney, boyhood pal Crazy Eddie, and others of McManus's acquaintance. Also meet hunting dog Strange, dog delinquent, whose prey of choice is year-old roadkill. Readers of McManus's humor column in Outdoor Life will enjoy his observations on the joys of pig-back riding, workshop puttering, and Sasquatch ducking. So will those who, like McManus's wife Bun, appreciate nature most from the window of a seven-story luxury hotel.

Offers a humorous collection of tales, including "Muldoon in Love," a story that features a teacher who wore the same suit to school for thirty years

In a collection of spoofs on outdoor life, the author explains how to construct a grasshopper trap, the many uses of a skunk ladder, and how to become a human fuel pump

With tongue pressed firmly in cheek and a gentle but penetrating eye for human foibles, Patrick F. McManus celebrates the hidden pleasures, unappreciated lore, and opportunities for disaster to be found in the recreations of camping, hunting, and fishing in his hilarious collection They Shoot Canoes, Don't They? Gathered here for the reader's edification are such treasures as the true but little known story of the discovery of the efficacy of live bait by Genghis Khan's chef, an examination of the precarious and perhaps fanatical expertise required for ice fishing, and a consideration of the circumstances that can cause a deer to ride a bicycle. Among additional topics explored are The Crouch Hop and Other Useful Outdoor Steps, The Sensuous Angler, and Psychic Powers for Outdoorsmen. Included, too, is The Hunter's Dictionary, an invaluable lexicon that helps the novice sportsman understand such arcane terminology as "Ooooooeee-ah-ah-ah (If there's one thing I hate, it's putting on cold, wet pants in the morning)" and "Baff mast pime ig bead feas mid miff pife (That's the last time I try to eat peas in the dark with my hunting knife )" The author's appreciation of outdoor life began in his early boyhood, when he absorbed a wealth of improbable information imparted by the old woodsman Rancid Crabtree, "who bathed only on leap years." Young McManus also enjoyed special adventures with his ill-remembered sidekick, Retch Sweeney, and another boon companion of days gone by, the loquacious family dog, Strange, whose exploits as a hunter were limited to assaulting stray chickens and on one memorable occasion a skunk. "McManus here follows up A Fine and Pleasant Misery with a collection of sketches that launches him into the front ranks of outdoor humorists."--Library Journal

A selection of McManus's writings spanning his eight years as associate editor of and contributor to Field & Stream offers observations on the hapless victims of camping, fishing, hunting, and hiking