The Blight Way: McManus Makes a Better Humorist than Mystery Writer

The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery - Patrick McManus

I have to admit that I’ve probably never read a Patrick McManus column – “Field and Stream” ain’t in my wheelhouse when it comes to outdoor fun.  They say he’s a humorist, which careful reading of The Blight Way: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery seems to support, assuming you like that kind of humor. His idea of “funny” is a lot closer to mine than the likes of Louie C K, so I’ll buy that. What I won’t buy, however, is that he’s a mystery writer – and The Blight Way is exhibit A in my case.

Bo Tully’s sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, and lives in the county seat, Blight City, near the shores of Blight Lake. That particular joke has already gotten old by the time Tully gets out in the sticks to the little burg of Famine, near which a trio of dead strangers were reported by a local rancher cum rustler, one Batim Scragg. Tully sets aside his painting – the sheriff has an MFA from some Cali university and his works in oil and watercolor hang all over the county offices and in some private homes – long enough to investigate. He only sort of sets aside his raging hormones (he’s been a widower for a decade or so) for the investigation, looking longingly at any attractive or even semi-attractive human female who crosses his path.

His posse for the case includes his father (and predecessor in the sheriff's office),“Pap” Tully; a couple of deputies; a CSI he calls “Lurch” for unknown reasons; and a local restaurateur (Dave) to do all his tracking, of which there's quite a lot. Why three Angelenos died in the depths of the Idaho forest when their Jeep got caught in a hail of bullets is the mystery Bo must solve. Of course, given that this is book one of a series, everything will become clear by the final reel…

The problem, at least for this reader, is that this is nominally a police procedural: the cop is solving the murders by looking at clues, adding the requisite deductions, and compiling a solution out of wisdom plus experience plus keen observation.


Well, at least that’s the way it works in a Michael Connelly or Jeffery Deaver mystery. The McManus version, on the other hand, goes something like this: Bo has an idea, whispers to one of his posse to “go somewhere” and “do something.” After a while, the answer comes back sort of like “Yes, what you thought happened, happened.” It’s all… background crap. Meanwhile, the foreground is filled with geezers scoping our young female flesh, people swearing, by which I mean McManus writes that “Bo used a ten-letter swear word” – a construct that appeared ten times in the novel! Sheesh – what a way to get around the Bible Belt censors!

Oh, sure, the heroes seem likeable and the villains suitably detestable, but it’s no big deal to get that right any more. At its core, the plot that makes The Blight Way a “mystery” is actually moderately interesting, but even a rookie mystery fan can probably figure out what’s going on several chapters before the hero – and that just isn’t what makes mysteries successful.

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