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This page lists novels that feature the Galveston private investigator Truman Smith.

Dead on the Island

Bill Crider

1991

A Truman Smith novel.

"PI Truman Smith has become a loner after failing to find his sister Jan during a recent search of Galveston Island. He jogs on the Seawall, plays with his cat, and reads lots of Faulkner books. He is pulled from his self-imposed retirement when his old high school football buddy Dino asks him to find a young girl named Sharon. As Tru begins his investigation, dead bodies begin to appear and Tru himself is attacked. His search for Sharon takes him to all sorts of interesting places on and near the Island."

Gator Kill

Bill Crider

1992

A Truman Smith novel.

"After he failed to find his missing sister, whose remains finally turned up in a bag in an overgrown field, Texas PI Truman Smith retired to become a housepainter on Galveston Island. But when an alligator is killed and its carcass left on display on a family friend's property, Tru is persuaded to search for the culprit. Soon the brooding gumshoe is stumbling over the bodies of dead humans, is shot at and run down by a souped-up four-by-four as he's embroiled in a plot complete with crooked police, a possible land-grabbing sheme and assorted bad guys."

When Old Men Die

Bill Crider

1994

A Truman Smith novel.

"Truman 'Tru' Smith is a PI who'd rather be reading Faulkner or fishing on his beloved Galveston Island than solving mysteries, so when his friend Dino asks for help, Tru at first demurs. With some not-very-subtle arm twisting, Dino finally persuades Tru to investigate the disappearance of Old Harry, a homeless vagrant whom Dino and his family have 'adopted.' Tru makes some half-hearted efforts to find the old geezer--who Tru figures probably disappeared because he felt like it--but only succeeds in getting shot at, doused in the Gulf, and bopped on the head. Of course, these events not only make Tru cross, they also rouse his suspicions about why somebody is so determined to keep him from finding out the real reasons for Old Harry's disappearance. It's not long before Tru discovers that some very nasty business is going on."

The Prairie Chicken Kill

Bill Crider

1996

A Truman Smith novel.

"That Truman Smith was sitting in a frayed lawn chair reading an old paperback copy of Tobacco Road was not remarkable. And strange as it sounds, it wasn't particularly noteworthy that someone wanted Smith to look into the murder of a prairie chicken; after all, he'd investigated and solved the murder of an alligator, hadn't he? The Attwater's Prairie Chicken isn't really a chicken, it's a grouse. And there are only about 108 of them in the world. The murdered bird was on Lance Garrison's land, and part of his deal with the government was that the small flock would be protected. Garrison's wealth - and his radio station - made him a likely target for trouble, but this was unexpected. Also unexpected was the reason the prairie chicken was killed ... and all the deaths that were to follow, and not of other endangered species. Some people in Picketville, Texas, had decided that Truman Smith endangered them and that he had to be stopped. The result was a deadly game of chicken, with Smith everyone's favorite target."

Murder Takes a Break

Bill Crider

1996

A Truman Smith novel.

"In Murder Takes a Break, Galveston, Texas principal investigator Truman Smith loathes missing person cases because they either end up badly for his clients, or the person does not want to be found. So only as a personal favor to his friend Dino would Tru accept the case of missing college student, Randall Kirbo, who disappeared in the area while on Spring break nine months ago. After sifting the facts from the very minimal police investigation on the case, Tru tracks Randall to a house owend by a local vice queen, Big Al. Another kid who attended the same party was later found dead on the beach As the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that this is anything but a typical missing person's case, and the party - and it's attendants - hold the clues to a killer, and his case."