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A Bone Dead Sadness
Marvin Hanson is a private investigator. Time was he worked homicide in Houston’s Fifth Ward, but that was years ago. Nowadays he’s living a quieter life, running a little one-man operation in LaBorde, Texas. You might think a sleepy East Texas town wouldn’t rate its own PI, but there’s just about enough to keep Hanson going. Lawyers need things looked into; suspicious wives need their husbands tailed, and vice versa; ordinary folks get interested in things the cops don’t care to pursue. Today, it’s a missing persons case.
Mildred “Babe” Craver’s not long for this earth, but she wants Hanson to find her son Tom, or find out what happened to him. He was a good-for-nothing jailbird, but he was her son after all. Problem is, Tom’s been missing for twenty-five years, so it’s a stone cold trail. Whatever Hanson finds out, it’s not likely to make anyone happy. Still, there’s something to be said for knowing.
This 2012 novella revisits Marvin Hanson, decades after the events of Act of Love; fans of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series have also encountered him as the boys’ sometime-employer. At its core, A Bone Dead Sadness is a good old-fashioned locked room mystery, wrapped up in noir and tied with a Dixie-scented bow. It’s Lansdale.
Mildred “Babe” Craver’s not long for this earth, but she wants Hanson to find her son Tom, or find out what happened to him. He was a good-for-nothing jailbird, but he was her son after all. Problem is, Tom’s been missing for twenty-five years, so it’s a stone cold trail. Whatever Hanson finds out, it’s not likely to make anyone happy. Still, there’s something to be said for knowing.
This 2012 novella revisits Marvin Hanson, decades after the events of Act of Love; fans of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series have also encountered him as the boys’ sometime-employer. At its core, A Bone Dead Sadness is a good old-fashioned locked room mystery, wrapped up in noir and tied with a Dixie-scented bow. It’s Lansdale.
55 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 10, 2014
26 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Joe R. Lansdale
826 books3,915 followersChampion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. His story "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" was adapted to film for Showtime's "Masters of Horror," and he adapted his short story "Christmas with the Dead" to film hisownself. The film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Sundance Channel has adapted his Hap & Leonard novels for television.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman, and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero. He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife, dog, and two cats.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 23, 2017
2.75 stars
A bone dead sadness refers to the pain a mother still feels after her no-good son has been missing for twenty-five years. Ex-cop and narrator, Hanson, accepts the challenge to investigate the old case.
The writing style was a little choppy in the opening pages and I didn’t care for the narrator, but I sort of liked this short mystery and the way it ended.
A bone dead sadness refers to the pain a mother still feels after her no-good son has been missing for twenty-five years. Ex-cop and narrator, Hanson, accepts the challenge to investigate the old case.
The writing style was a little choppy in the opening pages and I didn’t care for the narrator, but I sort of liked this short mystery and the way it ended.
December 13, 2015
A missing person's cold case (twenty five years) turns out to have more layers than Marvin Hanson, PI, initially thought. Hired by the missing man's mother to find out what happened to him, Hanson starts checking the previous private investigators' notes, reading police reports and talking to the people who saw him last. Certain things don't add up and there are some strange coincidences regarding three murders.
I didn't like Marvin Hanson, but that's just my personal preference when it comes to the types of protagonists I despise (you get the reason right at the beginning of the story). However, A Bone Dead Sadness does have a neat little mystery, and a satisfying resolution. Recommended.
I didn't like Marvin Hanson, but that's just my personal preference when it comes to the types of protagonists I despise (you get the reason right at the beginning of the story). However, A Bone Dead Sadness does have a neat little mystery, and a satisfying resolution. Recommended.
April 9, 2019
Marvin Hanson is (among other things) a supporting character in a lot of Joe Lansdale's Hap ad Leonard stories. In A Bone Dead Sadness Hanson takes the spotlight-tho Hap and Leonard are mentioned they are not actually present in this story-and that's ok. It was nice to see Hanson stretch his legs and solve a twenty five year old disappearance. I worked things out before the big reveal and I think you will too, Constant Reader, but this is still a fun read.
November 19, 2014
Three and a half stars.
Marvin Hansen is slightly different than Joe R. Lansdale's usual East Texas misfits, even if he hangs around Hap and Leonard and gives them jobs once in a while. Marvin is an ex-detective, now private investigator. His messed up leg doesn't keep him from doing his job or delivering a little physical payback from time to time. He is married but not necessarily happily since he was caught in an affair and the marriage is still healing. Marvin is offered a job by an elderly well-to-do woman to find her missing son. The problem is that he has been missing for 25 years.
A Bone Dead Sadness (great title!) also seems a little retro. While it is set in Lansdale's usual contemporary East Texas setting, it feels more like a traditional gumshoe story. Hansen is smart and tough and has more than a little Sam Spade in him. Hanson is surely not unknown to Lansdale aficionados, being a regular in the Hap and Leonard series and a primary character in Act of Love. Yet here he is front and center with a P.I.'s keen observational skills and raw nerve. A Bone Dead Sadness may feel like a typical gumshoe novella but it is a very fine one. "Too short" is a legitimate complaint for the Lansdale fan but not necessarily fair since the author sets out to write a certain story and does it well. No frills, no fat, all lean. If my rating seems a little low, it is based on a thorough knowledge of the heights Lansdale can take a reader. For the reader new to the writer's world of suspense, this would be a fine starting point.
Marvin Hansen is slightly different than Joe R. Lansdale's usual East Texas misfits, even if he hangs around Hap and Leonard and gives them jobs once in a while. Marvin is an ex-detective, now private investigator. His messed up leg doesn't keep him from doing his job or delivering a little physical payback from time to time. He is married but not necessarily happily since he was caught in an affair and the marriage is still healing. Marvin is offered a job by an elderly well-to-do woman to find her missing son. The problem is that he has been missing for 25 years.
A Bone Dead Sadness (great title!) also seems a little retro. While it is set in Lansdale's usual contemporary East Texas setting, it feels more like a traditional gumshoe story. Hansen is smart and tough and has more than a little Sam Spade in him. Hanson is surely not unknown to Lansdale aficionados, being a regular in the Hap and Leonard series and a primary character in Act of Love. Yet here he is front and center with a P.I.'s keen observational skills and raw nerve. A Bone Dead Sadness may feel like a typical gumshoe novella but it is a very fine one. "Too short" is a legitimate complaint for the Lansdale fan but not necessarily fair since the author sets out to write a certain story and does it well. No frills, no fat, all lean. If my rating seems a little low, it is based on a thorough knowledge of the heights Lansdale can take a reader. For the reader new to the writer's world of suspense, this would be a fine starting point.
April 9, 2020
A Bone Dead Sadness by Joe R. Lansdale – This is a very interesting and well written novella that features Marvin Hanson, a character from Lansdale’s first published novel, Act of Love. Marvin is a private investigator near LaBorde in East Texas, who also is friends with Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, too tough good ole boys who are featured in Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels. In this novella, Marvin is hired by a wealthy elderly woman to find her son, who vanished 25 years ago. Even though she had hired a few other PIs who failed, she did not want to give up. Marvin takes the case and is well paid for his services. However he encounters a few obstacles while pursing the long-cold case, including some violent thugs who try to scare him away from the investigation. Like many of Lansdale’s protagonists, Marvin is an intriguing, tenacious, ethical, but vicious, character who finishes what he begins. It’s a very enjoyable novella.
October 25, 2016
A fun detective quickie from Lansdale
Take an hour, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and spend some time with Marvin Hanson, PI, as he takes on a missing person case that's a quarter-century in the making.
A rich older woman at the end of her life wants to know whatever became of her ne'er do well son. He up and vanished one day and no one has heard a trace from him in decades. She suspects the worst, and three other detectives came up empty.
Will Hanson have the same result as those hired before him? Past transgressions, and stupid mistakes follow Hanson as well as the involved parties in the case.... Which may or may not be related to a couple of murders and a bank heist.
Lots of fun to be had here. Four stars.
Take an hour, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and spend some time with Marvin Hanson, PI, as he takes on a missing person case that's a quarter-century in the making.
A rich older woman at the end of her life wants to know whatever became of her ne'er do well son. He up and vanished one day and no one has heard a trace from him in decades. She suspects the worst, and three other detectives came up empty.
Will Hanson have the same result as those hired before him? Past transgressions, and stupid mistakes follow Hanson as well as the involved parties in the case.... Which may or may not be related to a couple of murders and a bank heist.
Lots of fun to be had here. Four stars.
May 27, 2017
That was a fun one. Love it when Lansdale's characters connect. In this one Marvin Hanson is hired to find an old woman's missing son. He's been gone for twenty five years. He starts the investigation easy enough, with some routine interviews. But when one of the people he interviews sends her two thug brothers to scare Marvin of, that didn't work too well, he goes back to her for more info. And he puts it all together. The mention of Hap and Leonard and the office over the bike shop make it that much more enjoyable.
October 13, 2025
This was a bit of a chore to read despite being only a short story. I wasn't really ever engaged by the story except for the final reveal. I also found Marvin Hanson to be significantly less interesting as a lead character compared to who he was in the novel Act of Love (1981). Disappointing.
Originally Read — July 27th, 2025
Originally Read — July 27th, 2025
April 1, 2019
The first story of Marvin, cool, but not sooo cool as Hap&Leonard. And really sad, really really sad.
La prima storia di Marvin, non male, ma non certo come quelle che vedono la presenza di Hap&Leonard. Inoltre é triste, veramente molto molto triste.
La prima storia di Marvin, non male, ma non certo come quelle che vedono la presenza di Hap&Leonard. Inoltre é triste, veramente molto molto triste.
September 28, 2020
Another enjoyable tale
Lansdale is one of my favorite authors. I thoroughly enjoyed all the Hap and Leonard tales. The main character here is in many of their tales. I live in se Oklahoma, not all that far from the East Texas locals in the books.
Lansdale is one of my favorite authors. I thoroughly enjoyed all the Hap and Leonard tales. The main character here is in many of their tales. I live in se Oklahoma, not all that far from the East Texas locals in the books.
September 19, 2017
good
lansdale is one of my favorite authors. but, I really prefer hap and leonard, tho. I just lo those guys!
lansdale is one of my favorite authors. but, I really prefer hap and leonard, tho. I just lo those guys!
June 9, 2020
This was an entertaining story from the point of view of Marvin Hanson, the PI that Hap and Leonard work with at times.
July 29, 2016
This popped up as a recommendation in my Kindle app, and given that (a) I dig Joe Lansdale's fiction, (b) I hadn't heard of this story before, and (c) it was only 99 cents, I bought it. I found out afterward that this is a story Lansdale wrote to include in a reprint of Act of Love, and features Marvin Hanson many years after the events in that novel. It's also set many years after Marvin befriended Hap & Leonard, though they don't make an appearance in the story.
A Bone Dead Sadness starts with Marvin receiving an email from a local woman who wants him to investigate the disappearance of her son from twenty-five years before. The story is just that investigation, though Lansdale throws in some of his usual style to give it a little something more. It doesn't have the snappy dialogue one comes to expect from a Lansdale story; there's a hint of it when Marvin has a meeting with the Chief of Police, but most of his conversation is with his wife, with the mother, and with her daughter-in-law. There's not much room for his trademark dialogue, though that's not saying there's anything wrong with what is there. It's just not what one would expect from a Lansdale story.
The story is fine, and serviceable, though it's nothing spectacular. All the events take place in the past, so the story is all about interviewing people and hoping to put all the pieces together. If you pay attention to how Lansdale sets up the story, you'll figure out how it will end, but I didn't catch it myself. I think Lansdale sets up his stories craftily enough so the clues aren't obvious, but if you go into the story looking for clues, I think you'll figure it out.
I'd recommend this story for Lansdale completists, but other readers, including Lansdale fans, might want to give it a pass. It's a brief read (it took me an hour, tops, to breeze through it), and it's cheap, but there's better Lansdale fiction out there. If you just can't find anything else to read, though, then sure, give it a go. I've read worse stories, after all.
A Bone Dead Sadness starts with Marvin receiving an email from a local woman who wants him to investigate the disappearance of her son from twenty-five years before. The story is just that investigation, though Lansdale throws in some of his usual style to give it a little something more. It doesn't have the snappy dialogue one comes to expect from a Lansdale story; there's a hint of it when Marvin has a meeting with the Chief of Police, but most of his conversation is with his wife, with the mother, and with her daughter-in-law. There's not much room for his trademark dialogue, though that's not saying there's anything wrong with what is there. It's just not what one would expect from a Lansdale story.
The story is fine, and serviceable, though it's nothing spectacular. All the events take place in the past, so the story is all about interviewing people and hoping to put all the pieces together. If you pay attention to how Lansdale sets up the story, you'll figure out how it will end, but I didn't catch it myself. I think Lansdale sets up his stories craftily enough so the clues aren't obvious, but if you go into the story looking for clues, I think you'll figure it out.
I'd recommend this story for Lansdale completists, but other readers, including Lansdale fans, might want to give it a pass. It's a brief read (it took me an hour, tops, to breeze through it), and it's cheap, but there's better Lansdale fiction out there. If you just can't find anything else to read, though, then sure, give it a go. I've read worse stories, after all.
November 8, 2016
A bone live joy
This is a four star only because it is a novella. The writing is pared to the bone, the psychology and compassion brilliant. A great intro to the work of Joe Lansdale. The added bonus given, of an excerpt from another of his books left me squealing for more.
This is a four star only because it is a novella. The writing is pared to the bone, the psychology and compassion brilliant. A great intro to the work of Joe Lansdale. The added bonus given, of an excerpt from another of his books left me squealing for more.
November 18, 2014
Nice short novella with Marvin, good story, just wasnt long enough. Typical Lansdale story, cant go wrong here.
Read
June 17, 2015Love Lansdale. Hap and Leonard are my favorite characters of his but I will read anything he writes.
June 24, 2015
Fun little mystery. It's been a while since I've read Joe, and this was an easy way back in.
April 5, 2016
Good
I like Lansdale's style of writing but would like the story to be longer. This is the second book by the authors, I will read more.
I like Lansdale's style of writing but would like the story to be longer. This is the second book by the authors, I will read more.
March 17, 2015
Okay, now I have to read all the Marvin stories or my life just will not be complete.
April 3, 2017
Always enjoy a great story by Champion Joe. Man mixes grit with emotion like no other!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews