Review: Coco Butternut

Coco Butternut by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When someone steals his mother's mummified dog, the beloved Coco Butternut, Jimmy Farmer hires Hap and Leonard to deliver the ransom. Too bad the dog won't be the only thing buried before the day is done...

I got this from Netgalley.

Coco Butternut is a Hap and Leonard novella set sometime after the events of Honky Tonk Samurai and Briar Patch Boogie: A Hap and Leonard Novelette. The boys are working for Brett at the detective agency when they catch the bizarre case of Coco Butternut.

Why would someone steal the mummified carcass of a wiener dog, you ask? Things get fairly complicated. Hap and Leonard are true to form, cracking wise and kicking ass, as are Brett and Chance.

It's a pretty slim book and I liked it but I wasn't blown away. I liked the callbacks to previous stories and the guys were in fine form but there wasn't a whole lot to the story. It felt like when you run into an old friend at the grocery store. It's fun catching up for a few minutes but then things get awkward. Do you shop alongside them? If not, what if you bump into each other again in the produce department?

Anyway. Coco Butternut was a fun Hap and Leonard novella but it was little more than an appetizer for Rusty Puppy. Three out of five stars.

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