The Wild Hog Murders by Bill Crider

I was borned on a mountain top in Tennessee and kilt me a b’ar when I was only three! No, wait, that was Davy Crockett. Sometimes I get the two of us confused. I’ve been in a bar or two, though, and in the winter I sometimes cover up with a kilt. Or a quilt. I’m getting confused again. At any rate, I’m pretty sure I’m the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories and that I won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die. I was even nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island, and I won the coveted Golden Duck award for “best juvenile science fiction novel” for Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror. My wife, Judy, and I won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for “Chocolate Moose.” My story “Cranked” from Damn Near Dead (Busted Flush Press) was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story. Check out my homepage at http://billcrider.com/ or take a look at my peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.com/

The Wild Hog Murders

by Bill Crider

What’s all this about wild hogs?  

Well, the truth is that feral pigs are a terrible problem in Texas. For years they’ve infested the country, and now they’re moving into the cities.  There are over two million of them in this state alone, probably about half the nationwide population.  They’ve gotten so bad that the during its last session, the Texas legislature made it legal to hunt them from helicopters. 

Since I’m always ahead of the curve on these things, I’ve been featuring wild hogs in my Sheriff Dan Rhodes series since the very beginning, back in 1986.  The sheriff had a pretty serious encounter with some feral pigs in that book, and for some reason they’ve been mentioned in just about every book since.  My sister called me one day after reading an article about them and said she thought it was time for me to make them the focus of a whole book.  I was thinking about starting a new book at the time, and it sounded good to me, so that’s what I did.

Someone asked me the other day if I’d ever gotten up close and personal with any feral pigs.  The answer is that I haven’t.  I do, however, own some land that’s overrun with them.  When my father died some years ago, my brother and sister and I inherited his ranch.  My brother now oversees the property, and he’s tried just about everything (except hunting the porcine destroyers from a helicopter) to get rid of them.  

Nothing works.  They root up the fields, they carry parasites and disease, and they breed faster than rabbits. 

I’m not the only one who’s talking about those pesky porkers these days.  You can check out YouTube if you want to see videos of people hunting them.  Or if you like more conventional television, the A&E network is about to present a new series called American Hoggers, about a family that makes a profession of hunting feral pigs.  I suppose this is more toward the “entertainment” half of the network’s name rather than the “arts” part.  Some people might even find it questionable entertainment. 

My book is plenty entertaining, though.  Trust me.  And while you’re trusting me, buy a copy and put a nice review on Amazon.  Help me to become rich and famous and to start living in the style to which I’d like to become accustomed. 

The sheriff and I thank you.