Donald Harstad

Page Updated: 17/05/00

Donald Harstad

The Big Thaw

03 Aug 00

The Known Dead

pbk 03 Aug 00

Eleven Days

About the Author (Photo by Robert Griffith)

Bibliography

British Pbk Original - 4th Estate (2000)

The Big Thaw
The third book following Eleven Days and The Known Dead to feature Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman. As usual, what initially looks like a small time midwinter break-in leads to something much bigger - a million dollar siege of a floating casino. But the temperature is rising and the heat is on Carl...
It's 30 below zero in the heartland of Iowa. The Mississippi River is frozen solid, and with it a floating casino. Carl Houseman comes upon Fred, a petty crook, lurking at the end of a driveway. There have been a few break-ins – Fred confesses that he and his two cousins have been responsible for a few of them but now he's worried. He dropped them off at this house a few days ago so they could break in and they never came out. Carl finds their frozen bodies in the house. Murdered. Poor Fred is top of everyone's suspect list but Carl thinks he's innocent. Then he chases another shady character - who turns out to be an FBI agent. Why are they on the scene? Because there 's been a tip off that a big bank robbery is going to go down. But where? Carl's leads finally take him to the floating casino - where his friend and partner Hester Gorse is on security duty. Can he save her before the big thaw?

First British Edition 4th Estate (1999)

Paperback - 4th Estate (2000)

The Known Dead

My name is Carl Houseman. I’m a deputy sheriff in Nation County, Iowa. I’m also the department’s senior investigator, and senior officer, to boot. I’d like to tell you about the killings we had in our county in the summer of ’96, and the subsequent investigation that stood the whole state on its ear. This is my version of what happened. It’s the right one.’

The second fast paced quirky police procedural thriller by former deputy sheriff Donald Harstad, following the success of Eleven Days. This time Deputy Sheriff Carl Housman is on the trail of the leader of a splinter group of US extreme right-wing terrorists causing mayhem in Nation County, Iowa.
A routine surveillance of a marijuana patch in a state park suddenly erupts into a shoot-out, leaving a police officer and one old doper dead. As the search gets under way for the killers, an emergency call comes in from a nearby farm where shots have been fired and help is needed fast. As two armed suspects escape across the cornfields, a huge weapons cache is discovered and a hostage situation develops. Houseman finds himself up against a splinter group of right-wing extremists … and a rising number of the known dead.
‘A compelling central character … the pleasures of this pacey thriller involve the intelligent and dispassionate analysis of the survivalist mind-set’ Barry Forshaw, Crime Time
‘Uncommonly involving as the investigation wends its way … satisfaction guaranteed.’ Philip Oakes, Literary Review
'A mystery story by an author who knows his territory, and his description of it is gritty and realistic' New York Times

Paperback - 4th Estate (1999)

First British Edition 4th Estate (1998)

Eleven Days
See Review by Val McDermid - Gold Dagger winner & creator of Lindsay Gordon, Kate Brannigan & Tony Hill
See Review by Ralph Lees
See Review by Andrew Taylor - author of the highly acclaimed Roth & Lydmouth Series
Eleven Days is a fast-paced, grisly, bloody and wry police thriller. Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman, first to arrive at the scene of the crime, finds the woman who made the urgent telephone call gone, and the owner of the farm slaughtered. Down the lane, in another isolated house he finds three more bodies, each bearing signs of extreme torture and violent death. Assisted by a dyslexic investigator, a sassy radio dispatcher and FBI Special Agent Hester Gorse, Houseman embarks on a nail biting investigation. Written by a former Deputy Sheriff on his vacation, in eleven days, this fast-paced, bloody and wry police thriller covers the solving of a horrific satanic cult murder in farmland Iowa … in just eleven days.
‘A hell of a first novel – gripping and unsettling.’ Michael Connelly
‘A major achievement and thriller debut by an ex-cop; a novel that feels and smells right.’ Time Out
'The kind of book that you start and finish in one late-night sitting' Sunday Express

About The Author
In his Own Words…
Although born in Los Angeles, my mother and I moved to Iowa shortly after the death of my father, who was killed in the Southwest Pacific in World War II. I met my wife, Mary, in Elkader, and we dated throughout High-school. We were married in 1965, and moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter. While in Los Angeles, I worked for Four Star Television, and then CBS Theatrical Films, in a very minor role. The experience, however, was invaluable. After the birth of our daughter, Erica, we began to have concerns about raising a child in the Los Angeles area. In 1970, we returned to Iowa, where I was employed as a police dispatcher, and Mary began her teaching career. In 1973, I became a Deputy Sheriff, and continued with that career until 1996, when I resigned from the Department to be able to begin a writing career. During my years as a Deputy Sheriff I was a patrol officer, the Department Intelligence Officer, and eventually Chief Investigator. The many and varied experiences I had during that time have provided me with a large base of information, which I draw upon for many of the characters and situations described in my novels. The Harstads continue to reside in Elkader, Iowa, where Mary continues to teach, and I continue writing and keeping in touch with local law enforcement events.

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

The Big Thaw (4th Estate Pbk, 2000) Pbk Aug 00 (Carl Houseman)

The Known Dead (4th Estate, 1999) 4th Estate Pbk Aug 00 (Carl Houseman)

Eleven Days (4th Estate, 1998) 4th Estate Pbk May 99 (Carl Houseman)

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