Known Dead

An ambush in the deep woods of Nation County, Iowa, leaves a Federal agent dead, and marks the return of Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman in Donald Harstad’s second entry in this excellent series. Maitland goes national when an ambush in a Sensemilla marijuana field by an unknown group using military we......more

Deadpan humor leavens this tale of multiple killings of police and a journalist in northeastern Iowa.......more

I believe it is a little misleading to call Donald Harstad's "Known Dead" a novel. It does not have that much in common with a work of literature. I would categorize it as a well-written police report, a detailed day-by-day, and often minute-by-minute report on solving an extremely complex and invol......more

I picked this book because of the caption on the cover, ‘IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND, SOMEONE IS KILLING COPS’ and I was thinking maybe another good serial killer book. But it turned out to be a crime novel. The first 100 pages did drag a bit for me and I thought about dropping the book. Maybe I didn’......more

I would have liked to give this 4.5 stars. I thought the 'police report' format that a few reviews complained about very effective. The characters are good, the humor entertaining and the plot spellbinding. My only problem the the myriad of characters from Federal and state agencies that were diffic......more