The Blight Way

A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery

By: Patrick F. McManus

Narrated by: Charles Leggett

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Bo Tully is the sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, where law enforcement is usually pretty mundane: tracking down truants running away from school, picking up country boys who've had a few too many beers. But Tully gets a little more than the country norm when an ex-con calls with the startling news that there's a corpse draped across one of his fences. Tully needed a birthday present for his Pap (the retired sheriff) anyway, so the two of them head out to investigate the murder. In a tone that's one minute wise-cracking and the next...well, still wise-cracking...Tully and Pap use their wiles to figure out what's happening in this little and not-so-dull town.

©2006 Patrick F. McManus (P)2006 The Audio Partners

Critic reviews

"A brisk, hilarious smalltown cop mystery." (Publishers Weekly)

The BEST of the Series

I LOVED this book. The writing is hilarious and the narrator does a FANTASTIC job bringing the characters to life. It is a shame Mr. Leggett did not narrate the rest of the series. He was far and away the best.
There is so much to laugh out loud at in this book, with a great story to boot. The characters are hilariously entertaining and you come to know and like them immediately. Dave the Indian, Pap, the entire town of characters. Daisy. So many more. Great entertainment.

Quirky and entertaining

I really was not sure about this book in the beginning, however it quickly grew on me for the quirky characters and sense of humor.
The sheriff is a widowed, spider feeding guy who is clueless about romance and his warm look just about killed me with laughter. He takes is 75 year old ex sheriff gun crazy father along on this adventure for his birthday and the amount of fried food these guys at gave me high cholesterol just hearing about it. His CSI crew is a guy named Lurch.
Overall a pretty good plot but the characters are, for me, the most entertaining part of the story.

Bo Tully

This is the first book in this series. I like books about Sheriff's in small towns. There is a good storyline. Bo is trying to solve some murders with some help from his Father and team. I highly recommend this book. Charles Leggett does a good job narrating this book. This is my first time hearing him. If my review is any help will you please click on the helpful link below. Thank you.

very enjoyable!

Practically listened straight through, very entertaining. A more serious side of McManus I was not familiar with, yet still some great humor sprinkled throughout.

A fun little mystery but the audio mix is bad

Patrick F. McManus has long been known his short stories and, if you've read them, you will notice a lot of things from those stories popping up here. Things like the Scragg family, characterized a little differently, and how Bo Tully's first gift to a girlfriend was a bar of Life Boy soap, much like Pat's short related.
The narrator does a fine job of giving the various characters distinct, and sufficiently rustic, voices but the audio mix on this book has a tendency to play out narration very soft and then blare out dialog at almost ear splitting levels.

Thank you, Mr. McManus

Not one filthy word in the entire book. A little risque humor, but everybody kept their clothes on. Not Sherlock Holmes, but worth a listen. Just nice to know somebody can tell a good story without 500 f-words and 10 gratuitous sex scenes. Thank you, Mr. McManus.

If you like Longmire

Hilarious cowboy murder mystery with interesting characters and plot line. Loved it. Checking for sequels now!

Intriguing

Absolutely intriguing and funny!! I recommend to everyone!! I will definitely listen to it again.

Good story

Good story. I think the writer tried to imitate the Longmire books, but fell way short. If you have never listened to Longmire then this is an ok listen.

Patrick McManus does a mystery novel

If you could sum up The Blight Way in three words, what would they be?

Funny. Charming. Clever.

What other book might you compare The Blight Way to and why?

Not really sure. This is a cozy style mystery crossed with McManus' own slightly off center sense of humor. I don't read enough mysteries to compare it to any.

What does Charles Leggett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator adds a specific dead-pan cadence to the each of the various characters. This adds to the experience.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did laugh in a several spots. It was an entertaining listen.

Any additional comments?

If you like McManus' short humor articles - and if you are not, you are missing a LOT of fun - this makes for an interesting expansion to his writing world. I am looking forward to the follow up books in the series.