Part To Kill a Mockingbird and part Ugetsu, Bryant's Dutch Curridge examines the life of early 1950s Fort Worth from the bottom up.

Alvis Curridge is an ex-employee of the Fort Worth Sheriff's Department. When he isn't found at Peechie Keen's Bar & Kanteen, drinking and swapping stories with buddies, he is busy trying to keep things in line around Cowtown-even if that means occasionally tangling with his former boss.

In his spare time, he enjoys taking in the local music scene. He likes western swing and jazz music almost as much as he likes Ruthie Nell, the spunky writer for the Fort Worth Press.

Things are all going smoothly until Dutch-his friends all call him that, even if he isn't thrilled about it-is contacted by an old friend to help locate her missing son.

Hard boiled crime and mystery meets good old-fashioned ghost story as Dutch, who knows a great deal about the ways of the world, learns a little about himself and how he fits into the scheme of things.

"Hardboiled, but hot as a door knob after a nuclear blast. Tim Bryant's work is blessed not only with originality, but with a kind of madness that makes it one of a kind and as special and surprising as a one eyed, three hundred pound toad with a picnic basket. I love this guy's stuff. Seems to me, his success is assured." -Joe R. Lansdale