Pardee Holler

An Easy Taylor Mystery

By Roland Keller

Subjects: Fiction, New York/regional
Series: Excelsior Editions
Imprint: Excelsior Editions
Paperback : 9781438448688, 284 pages, August 2013

Follows hapless private eye Easy Taylor as he investigates an eco-terrorist plot to stop development in the Catskill Mountains.

Description

When Pardee Mountain and Pardee Hollow, protected tracts of land in the Catskill Mountains, are threatened by a multimillion dollar development plan, trouble brews. The locals are against Deyl MacGreedy's vision of Crestline Estates and the construction site experiences some minor hassles—missing construction material, machinery diverted to another job, and money issues with labor subcontractors. After the problems escalate to several bombs detonated during a high profile public relations parade, private investigator Edward Zachary Taylor, better known as Easy, is assigned to investigate.

On the verge of losing his job with Lauder & Donovan Investigations, Inc. , Easy heads to the Catskills to get to the bottom of the troubles plaguing the Crestline development. As he digs around, he discovers a young, attractive veterinarian who is doing more than treating the local animals. Dr. Henrietta Van Vonderhueeks, who goes by Doc Hank, is doing secret research in the area and despite Easy's best efforts to find another suspect, all the evidence points to the lovely Doc Hank.

Roland Keller was born in New York City and later moved to the Catskill Mountains, where he still resides with his wife, Patricia. He has been the editor of PKA's Advocate, a literary publication, for nearly three decades. Together, he and his wife raise Paso Fino horses.

Reviews

"Easy Taylor may be the most flawed detective since Sam Pulsifer in An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, but also one of the most entertaining. In Pardee Holler we witness a collision at the intersection of crooked Albany politicians, greedy Catskills developers, backwoods Pardee Mountain folk, and idealistic tree huggers. This book is a pitch-perfect homage to the down and almost out gumshoe, complete with a private dick who can't resist playing the horses with his last sawbuck. " — Ray Petersen, author of The Middle of Everywhere: A Novel

"Private investigator Easy Taylor's on the verge of being sacked when he's charged with finding the bomber trying to halt a controversial development project in the Catskills. In between getting down bets with his bookie, Easy finds himself in love with a suspect, pursued by a hit man, beat up, blown up, and heading into the mountains to hunt for Bigfoot. It's not easy being Easy, but you've got to like a character who says: 'What could go wrong? We're just going to ride up into the wilderness to bury some guy and try to find the yeti of the Catskills. Piece of cake, right?'" — Carolyn J. Rose, author of the Catskill Mountains Mysteries Hemlock Lake and Through a Yellow Wood