Dust in the Heart by Ralph Dennis
There’s a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town…and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he’s still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels
Wilton Drake’s hip was shattered by a sniper’s bullet in Lebanon…and his heart was ripped apart by the wife who left him as lay in a military hospital. Now, after fiteen years in the Navy, he’s returned to Edgefield, North Carolina a broken man, looking for a way to hold himself together. He finds it in a bottle…and behind a badge as Webster County’s newly elected Sheriff…but his forbidden attraction to a mysterious stripper and his harrowing investigation into a horrific string of child murders might destroy what’s left of him, body and soul.
Books by Ralph Dennis
Hoop Noir
Two gritty, fast-moving novels set in the world of basketball by legendary crime writer Ralph Dennis.
Tales of a Sad, Fat Wordman
This collection of some of Ralph's early short stories and poetry, framed with excerpts from articles about him and by essays from authors who knew him well.
Dust in the Heart
There's a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town...and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he's still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels
All Kinds of Ugly
The recently discovered, long-lost, 13th and final Hardman adventure sends the unlicensed PI to London to find a missing man...where he becomes embroiled in an ugly case of embezzlement and murder.
Reviews For Dust in the Heart
Webster County, N.C., sheriff Wilton Drake, the hero of this solid, previously unpublished crime novel from Dennis (1931–1988), has faced a lot in his life. A sniper’s bullet left him with a shattered hip and a limp, while his ex-wife left him with a battered heart, a taste for booze, and an attraction to the wrong kind of woman. Despite his injuries, Drake is all lawman. His latest case finds a child murderer loose in his jurisdiction, and he’ll use everything in his power to bring the killer to justice. This is old school police fiction at its best, where the men talk tough: “ ‘An eye for an eye, Sheriff?’ ‘Whenever possible,’ Wilt said.” In lesser hands, this kind of hard-boiled style would fall into cliché or stereotype, but Dennis, with a sharp ear for dialogue, skilled plotting, and the ability to create fully developed characters, keeps the story fresh and the action believable. Any fan of Ross Macdonald or Ed McBain will thoroughly enjoy this outing.
“Dust in the Heart” is an effective, smart police procedural starring a purposefully flawed hero. While certain genre tropes are familiar, the author's ominous prose is masterful. “Dust in the Heart” proves that even small-town America can be the most threatening. It's this cold, sinister approach that makes Ralph Dennis' final pen-stroke his most enduring legacy.
