Red Dog (26 page)
Authors: Jason Miller
After a while, I said, “Can't say I'm precisely happy about what happened back there, but I have to admit, you did good, kiddo.”
“Well, I just figured someone needed to rescue us.”
“I think I could have taken him, darlin'.”
“Uh-huh,” she said. “Hey, why do you keep making that face?”
“What face? What do you mean?”
“Face like you swallowed a mouse. You're hurting and I can tell. What is it? I didn't think Little Bandit laid much of a glove on you.”
“He didn't,” I said. “It's just . . .”
“Just what?”
I said, “It's just, while we were loading up the birds, one of them pecked me pretty good on the thumb. Through its cage. Salmon Faverolle, I think it was. Real sassy little bastard.”
Anci stared at me.
I said, “Hey, it hurts.”
Anci stared at me.
“Bled a little, even. Might have to have it cut off maybe. Amputated. You never know. I reckon I should get us to an emergency room.”
Anci stopped staring at me. She shook her head. She reached forward and switched on the radio.
Special thanks are owed to a bunch of folks who helped me see this book through to completion. As ever, much gratitude and love to my agents, Anthony Mattero and Yfat Gendell. Eric Meyers is a dream editor, and his guidance on the manuscript was just invaluable. Thanks also to my friends and early readers Julie Kedzie, Steve Huff, Jeff Zentner, and Keith Buckley. You people are damn good people.
And finally, but mostly and continuously, to Laura.
JASON MILLER
is the author of the Slim in Little Egypt mystery series. A much-followed comic voice on Twitter, Jason (@longwall26) has had tweets featured on national talk shows such as
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
, and he has been named among the funniest people on Twitter by
Playboy
,
BuzzFeed
, and the
Chicago Tribune
, among others. A RiffTrax contributor, Jason has had his jokes heard in movie theaters throughout the United States and Canada. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.
RED DOG
“
Red Dog
is just the right combination of mystery and cynical humor to captivate the reader until the last page. I can't wait to read the next one! . . . F*cking fantastic.”
âJulie Kedzie, mixed martial artist
“
Red Dog
reads like driving a pickup with a lift kit at 80 mph down back roads, while listening to Mitch Hedberg and Steve Earle. Jason Miller's sentences explode from the page like they were dynamited out of bedrock; his dialogue and plot crackle with the energy of a midwestern thunderstorm.”
âJeff Zentner, author of
The Serpent King
“Jason Miller's
Red Dog
is a gritty mystery that pulls the hat trick of being as funny as it is intense. I read it in one sitting and would happily slip back into Slim and his daughter Anci's world tomorrow.”
âSteve Huff, author of
Don't Go to Jail!: Saul Goodman's Guide to Keeping the Cuffs Off
“If you've ever wondered what happens to a Goonie when they're old enough to buy alcohol, well, look no further than Slim.”
âKeith Buckley, author of
Scale
DOWN DON'T BOTHER ME
“Long stretches of this unusual first novel would seem to require guitar accompaniment. The genre conventionsâtreacherous women, double-crossing friends, greedy moneymenâseem fresh in Miller's sensory-rich language. . . . Here's a strong talent just getting under way.”
â
Booklist
“Fans of FX's
Justified
TV series, as well as the show's Elmore Leonard source material, will welcome the tough-talking Slim and the eccentric cast of characters he meets along the way
.
”
â
Library Journal
“
Down Don't Bother Me
marks the emergence of a wildly assured mystery novelist, and of a series set in the fresh and brutal landscape of southern Illinois.”
âNew Orleans Public Library
“In his first novel, set in the hardly welcoming world of southern Illinois coal country, he is funny, smart, and extremely self-assured in his writing, creating a book that is almost as addicting as the meth that has taken over Little Egypt, Illinois.”
â
Mystery Scene
“Miller brings the reader into the cold Illinois landscape with his vivid imagery.”
â
Life Sentence
“Miller's first novel is raw, gritty, and darkly comedic. The first-person POV is perfect for this telling, and readers will fall for Slim quickly. His relationship with his teenage daughter, Anci, while typical of the teenage years, is refreshingly real. Overall a fantastic debut novel.”
â
RT Book Reviews
“While this novel is funny and violent, it also chronicles the soul-sapping meanness and danger of work in the mines.”
â
Memphis Commercial Appeal
“Jason Miller has delivered a crime novel with all the satisfactions of the genre, coupled with a serious, resonant subtext and the promise of more adventures to come for his offbeat protagonist.”
â
Chapter 16
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
RED DOG
. Copyright © 2016 by Jason Miller. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST HARPER PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED 2016
EPub Edition August 2016 ISBN 9780062449078
ISBN 978-0-06-244906-1 (pbk.)
16Â Â 17Â Â 18Â Â 19Â Â 20Â Â Â Â
RRD
    10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007