Big River Trilogy

The worst flood in decades has isolated an island in the middle of Big River and there's no telling when the dam upriver is going to give. On the island are four men and three lifejackets. The sheriff's got the rifle and knows one of the other three men is a brutal and ruthless killer. Each man has his own story and if you don't think this is a situation ripe for the webwork machinations of Harry Stephen Keeler, you haven't been reading one of the most original mystery writers of the 20th century. Told in outrageous dialect, this book will have you guessing from the first page to the last.

Several men find themselves stranded by a flooding river on Bleeker's Island. The jewels known as Cleopatra's Tears are missing, and one of the men is believed to be Actor Hart, notorious killer and thief - maybe even the one who stole the jewels. Can the sheriff figure out which one is Hart - and make sure he's the one without a life jacket when the dam upriver gives way?

The poor souls who spent the first two books of the Big River Trilogy stranded on a small island waiting for the dam upriver to break are still there, but this time there are more than four. And you can bet that each man has a convincing story why he's not Actor Hart, the ruthless killer. There are not enough life jackets to go around and the Sheriff must figure out which is the criminal so that Hart is the one left to die when the waters begin to rise.