Hog Wild (Southern Fried Mysteries featuring Avery Andrews)

By Cathy Pickens

Book Overview

A runaway pig is about as explosive a piece of news as there is to be found in Dacus at the moment. But shortly after Avery Andrews has returned to her hometown, all hell breaks loose. Her new office is still in disorder when Maggy Avinger arrives, clutching a copy of her dead husband's letter to his lawyer. He's made arrangements for an enormous stone angel to be erected at his grave and for the angel's plaque to read that Maggy murdered him. His doctor says Harden died of lung cancer, so he's really got some nerve. Plus--and what really bothers Maggy--the garish angel is in such bad taste Avery promises to look into it. In the meantime, Maggy invites her to a native plant rescue at the site of a new development. A dead body is found crammed into an abandoned mine hole and a series of gruesome deaths follow. Avery discovers that the victims had received anonymous letters accusing them of various ethical shortcomings. With the help of an attractive reporter who seems too good for her father's humble paper, Avery seeks to find a connection between the disasters and nab a killer. This is the third in a distinctly charming series that keeps getting stronger and funnier with every book. Pickens's voice is nothing short of delightful as she develops these characters, all the more endearing for their eccentricities. Whether moonpies are a staple of one's diet or not, readers will feel right at home. In the best of ways.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312354401
• ISBN13: 9780312354404
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Southern Fun

Cathy Pickens packed her Hog Wild book so full of fun I zipped through it like a wild hog with hounds on its heels. Where else do you find a rottweiller's smallest appendage described as a "tater tot tail" and learn that some woman offered to swap "nookie for nitro"? And I hadn't heard "durn your hide" since my granddaddy died. No rural Southerner could read this one without relating. These characters and their thinking and language might sound far fetched to some, but Miss Cathy got it right. I know these people, right down to the little old lady with the big black rotary-dial telephone.

Pickens does it again

Instant classic! Hog Wild is a must read for any mystery novel enthusiast! In addition to being suspenseful and thrilling, the book was funny and delightful. I can't wait to read the next installment as Avery continues her career!

Amazing read

Wow! What a book! Hog Wild was extremely captivating, and kept me guessing right up until the last page. Mrs. Picken's really captures the "flavor" of the south with her superb writing style and dialect. A wonderful read, I would recommend it to anyone!!

charming and delightful southern cozy

After practicing law at Columbia and Charleston, attorney Avery Andrews returns to her small hometown of Dacus where she is about to open up her solo law practice. Even before she officially opens up, Maggy Avinger comes to her for help. It seems her husband, who died form lung cancer, ordered a contentious monument as his gravestone and on it conscribed an epitaph that says she killed him. Maggie doesn't want the monument but Avery is more worried about the accusation. Later that week she goes to a "plant rescue" on mountain land that Dot Downing sold to land developer Lionel Shoal. When she returns for another rescue, he is digging in the wetlands that he promised to turn into an environment conservation area. Avery wants to see if there is a way she legally cancel Dot's land sale due to Shoal's misuse of the land. A worker finds the body of a man in an abandoned mine shaft, a bullet in his chest. Later on Lionel is found dead in the same manner as Susie Knight. Both were poisoned and before they died they got a warning letter just like the man who was shot on Lionel's property. Creeping Avery out is she gets the same letter as does a friend of hers. Cathy Pickens has written a charming and delightful southern cozy that gives readers a look at small town living in the heart of South Carolina. The protagonist is a realistic, independent woman who says what is on her mind and tries to do what she thinks is best for her clients even if they have very little money to pay her. Avery is a good role model for youngsters and the audience will definitely admire her attitude. Harriet Klausner