february, 2016
Event Details
Joe R. Lansdale will be back at The Wild Detectives to present a new volume of his most beloved series, Hap and Leonard! For the first time in five years, Hap and Leonard are reunited in the rambunctious thrill ride that is Lansdale’s latest mystery, Honky Tonk Samurai (Mulholland Books, 2016).
It’s sure to be an exciting year for the duo—SUNDANCE TV has announced that a television series, Hap and Leonard, based on the pair, will premiere in early 2016, starring Michael K. Williams (The Wire, 12 Years a Slave), James Purefoy (The Following), and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men). Daniel Woodrell proclaims Joe Lansdale “a generous storyteller… long one of our finest and most difficult-to-classify writers. Call his writing supernatural, horror, crime, or plain Southern, as long as you remember to call it great.”
Hap Collins, a self-proclaimed “white trash rebel,” and his best friend, Leonard Pine, a tough black, gay Vietnam vet, are back on the PI scene. This smart and fun mystery starts with the two friends witnessing a man abusing his dog—and when Leonard beats him up, a woman passing by gets it on tape. Leonard’s attempt to save the dog quickly spirals into blackmail, with Hap and Leonard taking on a case to find the woman’s missing granddaughter, leading them into an East Texas prostitution ring, a cast of characters the likes of whom you won’t find anywhere else in fiction, and a fascinating mystery at the heart of it.
For readers unfamiliar with Lansdale—you’re in for a treat. Hap and Leonard are a mix of True Detective, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, and something else not quite describable (think Mark Twain or Hunter S. Thompson). Where else will you find an ex-convict and former ’60s peace activist joining forces with a Vietnam vet who has an anger management problem? It’s not just the unlikely pairing that wins readers’ hearts, though—Lansdale’s classic twists and turns, whip-smart dialogue, and imagery of the sprawling lands of East Texas are unmatchable.
Lansdale is the author of more than a dozen novels, including Paradise Sky, the Edgar Award–winning The Bottoms, Edge of Dark Water, and The Thicket. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.
