Return to Mark/Space
ISBN 0-15-138478-9 (US hbk),,, 0-441-00321-4 (US pbk),,, 0-340-64004-9 (UK pbk)
novel, science fiction, aliens, police, Texas, women
4th novel. Shortlisted for UK's Arthur C.Clarke Award.
"In the small Texas town of Coomey, the Torku deliver VCRs. Clothes. Gasoline. Even Twinkies and Diet Dr Pepper.
"It began six years ago, on Bomb Day, when the aliens put up the Line to block out the rest of the world. On all the radio bands there is nothing now but static, and beyond the glowing paisley barrier there may be only a radioactive waste. Yet in Coomey life goes on quietly.
"Until Loretta Harper, the pudgy Mary Kay rep and perennial Homemaker of the Month, is found dead in the woods. It's the first murder in six years, and police chief DeWitt Dawson, with a curse, starts his investigation. Did the Torku kill her? Or was it Foster, the town banker turned flower child? Janet -- yes, even Janet, the police chief's own wife -- may be involved.
"Both lyrical and humorous, Happy Policeman is a story of everyday people trapped in an existential test tube. A story of duty and rebellion. And adultery. While aliens watch -- and wait -- to see if DeWitt will learn the truth about time, responsibility, and universes that leak." [jacket blurb, US hbk, 1994]
"Her ability to capture the eeriness of alien civilization while simultaneously exploring the foibles of human society mark her as one of the genre's premier authors." -- (Library Journal ).
"Once again Patricia Anthony sizes up the human condition. Her ability to create such real characters never ceases to amaze me. And her aliens are truly out-of-this-world." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1997).
Highly recommended.
Happy Policeman
(book entry at Putnam publishers site)
Patricia Anthony Page
(site maintained by Marq)
Patricia Anthony Website
(great resource for writers... check it)
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