Hap and Leonard by Joe R. Lansdale

Published by Tachyon Publications on March 1, 2016

Joe Lansdale has written eight or nine novels featuring the characters Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. Hap provides the narrative voice. He's sort of an East Texas liberal who has been on a long and unsuccessful quest to find himself. His buddy, Leonard Pine, is a black, gay conservative who has anger management issues. Whether Hap and Leonard have a knack for finding trouble or whether trouble finds them is a question they often ponder.

Hap and Leonard are now appearing in a series on Sundance TV. Apparently the episodes can be streamed online. I haven't done that yet due to my lousy internet service but I'll get around to it eventually. I assume that this collection of Hap and Leonard short stories was released in anticipation of the Sundance show.

A couple of the short stories in the volume are billed as novellas. I’m not sure they’re long enough to qualify as novellas rather than long short stories. The entire volume is relatively short, but most of the stories are entertaining, as you would expect from Joe Lansdale.

The first long story is “Hyenas.” A young man looking for someone to help him prevent his brother from committing a robbery has the misfortune of meeting the wrong guys before he finds Hap and Leonard. A couple of violent confrontations later and the problem is solved. This is a fun, straightforward story that is enlivened by Lansdale’s trademark wit.

“Veil’s Visit” is co-authored with Andrew Vachss. The story blends Vachss’ trademark darkness with Lansdale’s trademark humor. The darkness (involving kids, another Vachss trademark) comes at the beginning but the story becomes cheerier as it progresses. Veil is a lawyer and an old friend of Hap. He travels to Texas to help out Leonard, who is charged with burning down a crack house. Again. The trial is a masterpiece of wit and theatrics. It’s also deliciously funny.

“Death by Chili” is a very short story that was written as a promotional giveaway. Leonard solves the mystery of how a person died. The chili recipe at the end is more amusing than the story.

“Dead Aim” is the best story in the collection. Hap and Leonard are asked to help out a woman whose husband is threatening her. That problem takes a couple of twists before turning into a bunch of new problems … the kind that Hap and Leonard like to solve with an axe handle, a few bullets, and nonstop banter.

In “The Boy Who Became Invisible,” Hap recalls an incident from his childhood. This is a very short, very serious story, quite unlike the other entries. Also from his younger days, Hap explains how he got to know Leonard in “Not Our Kind.” The story features some of the usual Hap and Leonard banter, but its subject matter -- racism and homophobia -- give it a serious edge.

“Bent Twig” is a fairly predictable story about Hap’s efforts to find the drug-addled daughter of his girlfriend, who regularly gets into trouble and disappears. The plot gains some zip toward the end, and the snappy dialog and amusing moments that characterize Hap and Leonard stories make it worth reading.

Rounding out the collection is Lansdale’s brief interview of Hap and Leonard. It comes across as filler. Lansdale also devotes a few pages to explaining how and when he penned the various Hap and Leonard novels and stories.

On the whole, this collection is something that Hap and Leonard fans (or, more generally, Lansdale fans) will appreciate. It doesn’t consistently showcase Lansdale at his best, but “Hyenas” and “Dead Aim” are worth the price of the volume.

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