Best Selling Books by Joe R. Lansdale

Godzilla’s in a twelve-step program. A soul-sucking Mummy stalks Elvis and John F. Kennedy. Joe Bob Briggs has a moral dilemma: If your girlfriend turns zombie on you, what do you do? And that’s the tame stuff. In this red-hot collection from world-champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, you’ll find his best, most outrageous stories. The high priest of Texan weirdness does it all: horror, mystery, satire, suspense, and even Westerns. Prepare to be offended, shocked, and cackling like a crazed redneck. Featuring five Bram Stoker Award–winning stories, this career retrospective contains some of Lansdale’s rarer work, his nonfiction forays into drive-in theaters and B-movies, and the novella Bubba Ho-Tep, later made into a cult-classic major motion picture. Come on in—the weirdness is fine.

"Local fighter, future legend, Jack Johnson versus a professional street fighter brought in to put the black upstart in his place. Whorehouses, gambling, racial tension, the intersection between myth, history, legend and reality. The hurricane of the century is coming to destroy it all."--Jacket.

In the middle of a cyclone, beautiful, red-haired Sunset Jones shoots her husband Pete dead when he tries to beat and rape her. To Camp Rapture’s general consternation, Sunset’s mother-in-law arranges for her to take over from Pete as town constable. As if that weren’t hard enough to swallow in depression era east Texas, Sunset actually takes the job seriously, and her investigation into a brutal double murder pulls her into a maelstrom of greed, corruption, and unspeakable malice. It is a case that will require a well of inner strength she never knew she had. Spirited and electrifying, Sunset and Sawdust is a mystery and a tale like nothing you’ve read before.

A teen leads a journey to grant a murder victim''s lifelong wish in this dark psychological thriller by an Edgar Award–winning author. "A charming gothic tale . . . as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm—or Mark Twain." — New York Times Book Review May Lynn is a pretty girl who dreams of becoming a Hollywood star. Until her dead body is dredged up from the Sabine River. Sue Ellen, May Lynn''s strong-willed teenage friend; her pals Terry and Jinx; and Sue Ellen''s mother set out to dig up May Lynn''s body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood. If May Lynn can''t become a star, at least her remains can be spread in the land of her dreams. Pursued by Uncle Gene and Constable Sy, who are after the money Sue Ellen and the other''s have found, as well as Skunk, an all-too-real legendary killer who''s after their lives, they begin to understand that when you set out to make the dreams of a friend your own, your worst nightmares might come along for the ride. "Marvelous and terrifying, Edge of Dark Water is the result of a real genius at work. A masterpiece." —Dan Simmons "Hugely appealing. . . . Reading Joe Lansdale is like listening to a favorite uncle who just happens to be a fabulous storyteller." —Dean Koontz " Edge of Dark Water describes a trip downriver that is one-half Huck Finn , one-half Deliverance , and entirely Joe Lansdale. If you aren''t familiar with the work of this true American original, and master of hillbilly noir, climb in the boat and hang on for dear life: the water is rough." —Joe Hill

This Edgar Award winner is "equal parts morality tale and page-turning thriller" (Denver Post)—classic American storytelling in its truest, darkest, and most affecting form, with echoes of William Faulkner and Harper Lee. Its 1933 in East Texas and the Depression lingers in the air like a slow moving storm. When a young Harry Collins and his little sister stumble across the body of a black woman who has been savagely mutilated and left to die in the bottoms of the Sabine River, their small town is instantly charged with tension. When a second body turns up, this time of a white woman, there is little Harry can do from stopping his Klan neighbors from lynching an innocent black man. Together with his younger sister, Harry sets out to discover who the real killer is, and to do so they will search for a truth that resides far deeper than any river or skin color.

Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, the bad old boys from Mucho Mojo and Bad Chili return for another rough and ready adventure south of the border.

The basis for the third season of the new Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard coming Spring 2018. Full of savage humor, heart-stopping suspense, and a cast of characters so tough they could chew the bumper off a pickup truck, The Two Bear Mambo is classic country noir. In this rollicking, rollercoaster ride of a novel, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine take a break from their day jobs to search for Florida Grange, Leonard''s drop-dead gorgeous lawyer and Hap''s former lover, who has vanished in the Klan-infested East Texas town of Grovetown. Before she disappeared, Florida was digging up some dirt behind the mysterious jailhouse death of a legendary bluesman''s son, who was in possession of some priceless merchandise. To Hap and Leonard, something don''t smell right. With murder on their minds, Hap and Leonard set out to investigate as only they now how . . . chaotically.

Edgar Award-winner and fan favorite Joe R. Lansdale is back with Hap and Leonard''s latest caper: investigating the disappearance of a revivalist cult leader''s daughter. Hap and Leonard are an unlikely pair-Hap, a self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough-as-nails black gay Vietnam vet and Republican-but they''re the closest friend either of them has in the world. Hap is celebrating his wedding to his longtime girlfriend, Brett (who is also Hap and Leonard''s boss), when their backyard barbecue is interrupted by a couple of Pentecostal white supremacists. They''re not too happy to see Leonard, and no one is happy to see them, but they have a problem and only Hap and Leonard will take the case. Judith Mulhaney''s daughter, Jackrabbit, has been missing for five years. Well, she''s been missing from them for five years, but she''s been missing from everybody, including the local no-goods who ran with her, for a few months. Despite their misgivings about Judith and her son, Hap and Leonard take the case. It isn''t long until they find themselves mixed up in a revivalist cult that believes Jesus will return flanked by an army of lizard-men -- solving a murder to boot. With Lansdale''s trademark humor, whip-smart dialogue, and plenty of ass-kicking adventures to be had, you won''t want to miss Hap and Leonard''s latest.

Jack Catcher''s parents are dead—his mom died of sickness and his dad of a broken heart—and he has to get out of Oklahoma, where dust storms have killed everything green, hopeful, or alive. When former classmate Jane and her little brother Tony show up in his yard with plans to steal a dead neighbor''s car and make a break for Texas, Jack doesn''t need much convincing. But a run-in with one of the era''s most notorious gangsters puts a crimp in Jane''s plan, and soon the three kids are hitching the rails among hoboes, gangsters, and con men, racing to warn a carnival wrestler turned bank robber of the danger he faces and, in the process, find a new home for themselves. This road trip adventure from the legendary Joe R. Lansdale is a thrilling and colorful ride through Depression-era America.

From the Edgar Award-winning author of the Hap and Leonard series, a hard-boiled novel set in 1960s Texas in which a no-nonsense car salesman faces a tempting decision, a dangerous deal, and an alluring affair. Ed Edwards is in the used car business, a business built on adjusted odometers, extra-fine print, and the belief that "buyers better beware." Burdened by an aging, alcoholic mother constantly on his case to do something worthier of his lighter skin tone and dreaming of a brighter future for himself and his plucky little sister, Ed is ready to get out of the game. When Dave, his lazy, grease-stained boss at the eponymous dealership Smiling Dave''s sends him to repossess a Cadillac, Ed finally gets the chance to escape his miserable life. The Cadillac in question was purchased by Frank Craig and his beautiful wife Nancy, owners of a local drive-in and pet cemetery. Fed up with her deadbeat husband and with unfulfilled desires of her own, Nancy suggests to Ed -- in the throes of their salacious affair -- that they kill Frank and claim his insurance policy. It is a tantalizing offer: the girl, the car, and not one, but two businesses. Ed could finally say goodbye to Smiling Dave''s, and maybe even send his sister to college. But does he have what it takes to see the plan through? Told with Joe Lansdale''s trademark grit, wit, and dark humor, More Better Deals is a gripping tale of the strange characters and odd dealings that define 1960s East Texas.

It is the summer of 1958 in Dewmont, Texas, a town the great American postwar boom passed by. The kids listen to rockabilly on the radio and waste their weekends at the Dairy Queen. And an undetected menace simmers under the heat that clings to the skin like molasses. . . For thirteen-year-old Stanley Mitchel, the end of innocence comes with his discovery of the mysterious long-ago demise of two very different young women. In his quest to unravel the truth about their tragic fates, Stanley finds a protector in Buster Lighthorse Smith, a black, retired Indian-reservation cop and a sage on the finer points of Sherlock Holmes, the blues, and life''s faded dreams. But not every buried thing stays dead. And on one terrifying night of rushing creek water and thundering rain, an arcane, murderous force will rise from the past to threaten the Stanley and everything he holds dear. Vintage Lansdale, A FINE DARK LINE brims with exquisite suspense, powerful characterizations, and the vibrant evocation of a lost time.

Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams. If there’s one thing Hap Collins and Leonard Pine like, it’s trouble—and they especially like getting paid to find it. So when their friend and sometime boss Marvin Harmon asks the boys to look into a cold-case double homicide, they’re happy to oblige. It turns out that both victims were set to inherit some serious money, and one of them ran with an honest-to-goodness vampire cult. The more closely Hap and Leonard look over the crime-scene photos, the more trouble they see. The image of a red devil’s head painted on a tree is just the beginning—a little research turns up a slew of murders with that same fiendish signature. And if things aren’t weird enough, Leonard has taken to wearing a deestalker cap . . . Will this be the case that finally sends Hap over the edge?

Hap and Leonard is now a Sundance TV series. With his trademark knack for gut-busting laughter and head-splitting action, Joe R. Lansdale serves up a bubbling cauldron of murder and mayhem that only he could create. Hap Collins has just returned home from a gig working on an off shore oil rig. With a new perspective on life, Hap wants to change the way he''s living, and shoot the straight and narrow. That is until the man who stole Leonard Pine''s boyfriend turns up headless in a ditch and Leonard gets fingered for the murder. Hap vows to clear Leonard''s name, but things only get more complicated when Leonard''s ex shows up dead. To the police it is just a matter of gay-biker infighting, but to Hap and Leonard murder is always serious business, and these hit a little to close to home.

Now a Tubi original film starring Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis, this rip-roaring adventure set at the dark dawn of the East Texas oil boom is the perfect introduction to Joe R. Lansdale, whose work has been called "as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm — or Mark Twain" (New York Times Book Review). Jack Parker thought he''d already seen his fair share of tragedy. His grandmother was killed in a farm accident when he was barely five years old. His parents have just succumbed to the smallpox epidemic sweeping turn-of-the-century East Texas -- orphaning him and his younger sister, Lula. Then catastrophe strikes on the way to their uncle''s farm, when a traveling group of bank-robbing bandits murder Jack''s grandfather and kidnap his sister. With no elders left for miles, Jack must grow up fast and enlist a band of heroes the likes of which has never been seen if his sister stands any chance at survival. But the best he can come up with is a charismatic, bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue who''s come into some very intimate knowledge about the bandits (and a few members of Jack''s extended family to boot). In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack''s about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme. In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in an action-packed adventure that''s equal parts True Grit and Stand by Me.

Savage Season is the basis for the first season of the Sundance TV series Hap and Leonard A rip-roaring, high-octane, Texas-sized thriller, featuring two friends, one vixen, a crew of washed-up radicals, loads of money, and bloody mayhem. Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are best friends, yet they couldn''t be more different. Hap is an east Texas white-boy with a weakness for Texas women. Leonard is a gay, black Vietnam vet. Together, they steer up more commotion than a fire storm. But that''s just the way they like it. So when an ex-flame of Hap''s returns promising a huge score. Hap lets Leonard in on the scam, and that''s when things get interesting. Chockfull of action and laughs, Savage Season is the masterpiece of dark suspense that introduced Hap and Leonard to the thriller scene. It hasn''t been the same since.

" Dubious delights . . . await you in . . . the latest outing for Joe R. Lansdale''s perpetual bad boys, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. . . . a ton of fun." — New York Times Only Hap and Leonard would catch a cold case with hot cars, hot women, and ugly skinheads. The story starts simply enough when Hap, a former ''60s activist and self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough black, gay Vietnam vet and Republican with an addiction to Dr. Pepper, are working a freelance surveillance job in East Texas. The uneventful stakeout is coming to an end when the pair witness a man abusing his dog. Leonard takes matters into his own fists, and now the bruised dog abuser wants to press charges. One week later, a woman drops by their new PI office with a proposition: find her missing granddaughter, or she''ll turn in a video of Leonard beating the dog abuser. The pair agrees to take on the cold case and soon discover that the used car dealership where her granddaughter worked is actually a front for a prostitution ring. What began as a missing-person case becomes one of blackmail and murder. Filled with Lansdale''s trademark whip-smart dialogue and unorthodox characters, Honky Tonk Samurai is a rambunctious thrill ride by one hell of a writer. "Wild, funny, utterly improbable and thoroughly satisfying entertainment." — Chicago Tribune "Audacious . . . Honky Tonk Samurai lives up to the rich legacy of the . . . Hap and Leonard series." — Dallas Morning News "Terrific . . . This shambolic, action-packed novel will ensnare new readers and satisfy devoted fans alike." — Publishers Weekly, starred boxed review "Damn fine reading." — Booklist, starred review

In this standalone, Edgar-award winning author, Joe R. Lansdale, whom "few can match" (Booklist) beams a light on an East Texas town where a QAnon-style, evangelist cult is brewing trouble. Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she’s running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as ‘The Saucer People’; a space-age, evangelist cult who believe their compound to be the site of an extraterrestrial Second Coming. Along with his brother, Felix, and beautiful, randy journalist Amelia “Scrappy” Moon, Charlie uncovers strange and frightening details about the compound (read: a massive, doomsday storehouse of weapons, a leashed chimpanzee!) When the body of their key informer is found dead with his arms ripped out of their sockets, Charlie knows he’s in danger but remains dogged in his quest to rescue Meg. Brimming with colorful characters and Lansdale’s characteristic bounce, this rollicking crime novel examines the insidious rise of fringe groups and those under their sway with black comedy and glints of pathos.

Telling the tautly plotted story of a modern Jack the Ripper''s spree in Houston, Lansdale creates a powerful combination of crime, police work, and social commentary--all with an eye for graphic detail. Act of Love, his first novel, is a collector''s item for Lansdale''s old fans and essential reading for his new ones.