Ben Rehder has 21 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 5 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is Gone the Next.
Gone the Next
Summary
Meet Roy Ballard, freelance videographer with a knack for catching insurance cheats. He's working a routine case, complete with hours of tedious surveillance, when he sees something that shakes him to the core. There, with the subject, is a little blond girl wearing a pink top and denim shorts - the same outfit worn by Tracy Turner, a six-year-old abducted the day before. When the police are skeptical of Ballard's report - and with his history, who can blame them? - it's the beginning of the most important case of his life.
©2012 Ben Rehder (P)2013 Ben Rehder
The Driving Lesson
Summary
Charlie Dunbar had big plans for the summer break, but becoming a fugitive was nowhere on the list. Even more unexpected, his partner in crime is his own ailing grandfather. Now they're on the run, trying to make it across the country to see a special kind of doctor, while the world becomes mesmerized by their journey. They are the subject of heated debates on cable news channels. Thousands of people voice their support on Facebook fan pages. And Charlie's own parents appear on live TV to plead for him to come home safely. But Charlie isn't ready yet. He's determined to get his grandfather to Seattle. The only question is, will the police stop him first?
©2012 Ben Rehder (P)2012 Ben Rehder
Last Laugh
Summary
When a Blanco County hog hunter goes missing after a fight with his girlfriend, it's not a laughing matter - even when one of today's hottest blue-collar comedians is a suspect. Game warden John Marlin joins forces with the sheriff's department once again to root through the clues and discover the truth. Meanwhile, two of the county's most notorious poachers - Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock - decide to launch an investigation of their own, and the cops are not amused.
©2017 Ben Rehder (P)2017 Ben Rehder
Get Busy Dying
Summary
Everyone thinks Boz Gentry died in a fiery traffic accident, but Roy Ballard and Mia Madison aren't convinced. As legal videographers, it's their job to provide evidence of insurance fraud - and the more they dig into the Gentry case, the more they realize this might be the most elaborate scheme they've ever encountered. Of course, when millions of dollars are at stake, con men will take drastic steps to protect their scam - including arson, assault, or even murder. Can Roy and Mia unravel the conspiracy before the criminals get desperate enough to kill? Edgar Award finalist Ben Rehder's novels have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream.
©2014 Ben Rehder (P)2014 Ben Rehder
Flat Crazy
Summary
An unidentified wild creature is on the loose in Blanco County, and, over the protests of game warden John Marlin, the locals have convinced themselves they're dealing with a mythical vampirish beast called a chupacabra. It doesn't help Marlin's cause when a dead body turns up with a fang-like wound in its neck. Then things really get out of hand: tabloid news programs invade Blanco, good old boys Red O'Brien and Billy Don Craddock develop a cockamamie get-rich-quick scheme involving the animal, and everyone is a little surprised at the booming population of voluptuous Chinese dwarves who've turned up in town. If anyone can make sense of the strange events, it's John Marlin, who's well-versed in the intricacies of small-town life, Texas style. But can he do it before another body turns up?
©2004 Ben Rehder (P)2013 Ben Rehder
Point Taken
Summary
Sean Hudson thought nothing of hopping a fence to dig illegally for Native American arrowheads, spear points, and other artifacts. Did his thieving, trespassing ways get him killed? How else to explain the small pickaxe that was found sunk deep into his skull? Blanco County game warden John Marlin has dealt with these kinds of looters before, so it's no surprise when the sheriff asks him to assist with the investigation. Marlin quickly learns that this case - like the soil at a dig site - has many layers.
©2016 Ben Rehder (P)2016 Ben Rehder
Dog Tag
Summary
Please note that this is a short story, not a full-length novel. Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock are finishing a construction project for one of their regular customers when he makes an unexpected request - help him regain custody of his beloved beagle, Teddy. The way they go about it is a howl. Ben Rehder is an Edgar, Shamus, and Barry Award finalist. His Blanco County comic mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream. To receive an alert when the next Ben Rehder novel is released, sign up for Ben's occasional newsletter at www.benrehder.com.
©2017 Ben Rehder (P)2018 Ben Rehder
Lefty Loosey
Summary
Deke Gilbert was a legend on the central Texas demolition derby circuit, until a suspicious late-night crash ended his life. Unfortunately, Deke left behind a teenage daughter, Christie, who now has nowhere to go. That’s when good ol’ boys Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock step up and, in a rare moment, do the right thing. They give Christie a place to stay until her 18th birthday, just a few months away. But things get complicated when Christie brings home gossip that draws Red and Billy Don into an investigation of Deke’s death. Soon, they are on a collision course with one of the baddest men in the county, and it quickly becomes a wild ride that none of them will forget.
©2018 Ben Rehder (P)2019 Ben Rehder
Stag Party
Summary
When the 102-year-old inventor of an amazing new hunting product is murdered, the clues point toward the Endicotts, a controversial reality-show family. Did one of the members do something desperate to claim the invention as their own and boost their waning popularity? Blanco County game warden John Marlin intends to find out, if he can prevent his best friend from having a deadly run-in with the prime suspect. Stag Party is the eighth novel in Ben Rehder's hilarious Blanco County mystery series.
©2014 Ben Rehder (P)2015 Ben Rehder
Holy Moly
Summary
When televangelist Peter Boothe decides to build a megachurch on the banks of the Pedernales River, he thinks his biggest problem will be a few unhappy neighbors. However, when backhoe operator Hollis Farley unearths a rare fossil on the construction site - a discovery that could lead to plenty of embarrassing Darwinian publicity - the cover-up begins. Soon, Farley is dead, shot in the back with an arrow, and Game Warden John Marlin is asked to help with the case. What he and the local deputies find is a suspect list of biblical proportions: Could it have been the bitter geology professor? The private fossil collector with a somewhat unusual fetish? The minister’s wife who takes the Commandments rather lightly? Or the geriatric environmentalist with a mean right hook? Nothing is sacred in Rehder’s most laughable satire yet, a twisted tale of greed, corruption, infidelity, and, yes, paleontology.
©2008 Ben Rehder (P)2013 Ben Rehder
Now You See Him
Summary
Jeremy Sawyer was having a great time on a party barge on Lake Travis, and then he was suddenly nowhere to be found. Had he jumped? Fallen off? Been pushed? Roy Ballard - an expert in catching insurance cheats - intends to find out. After all, Jeremy Sawyer was the nephew of one of his biggest clients, and she can't shake the suspicion that it wasn't an accident. It isn't long before Roy and his partner Mia Madison begin to draw the same conclusion.
©2017 Ben Rehder (P)2017 Ben Rehder
Bone Dry
Summary
Edgar Award-nominated author Ben Rehder's Blanco County comic mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream. The novels have been optioned by Warner Brothers Horizon Scripted Television for development as a cable TV series. Life can get a little wild from time to time for John Marlin, the game warden in Blanco County, Texas - but few incidents compare to the stories flying around town at the start of this new deer season. Hunters are reporting an incredible sight: A six-foot-tall, drop-dead gorgeous blonde is roaming the woods, searching out camouflage-clad men with guns and disarming them with powers of seduction the likes of which none of them have ever come across before. Everyone has a hearty laugh at the expense of a few embarrassed hunters, until one of their own turns up dead in the woods. Now Marlin has a real mystery to deal with. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading about a new Blanco resident, an ex-New Yorker named Sal Mameli who's ruffling feathers with his loud mouth and his penchant for getting his own way, no matter what the cost. Before long, John Marlin realizes he may be the only sane man in town, and he's starting to wonder if he can last much longer himself. It's just the start of another unforgettable hunting season in Bone Dry, the hilarious second novel from Edgar finalist Ben Rehder.
©2003 Ben Rehder (P)2012 Ben Rehder
Better to Be Lucky
Summary
The trouble at the Conlee’s lakeside estate begins when vandals topple and destroy an expensive Italian fountain. Then they slash the tires and damage the paint job on a Jaguar. That’s when Roy Ballard's client, the insurance company, asks him to catch the vandal in the act and prevent future claims. Surprisingly, the homeowner, Norman Conlee, opposes the idea. He intends to address the problem himself by fencing the property and keeping his revolver handy. Eventually, though, he gives in, and Roy goes to work. It’s not long before the case escalates in a way nobody saw coming. Roy will need some luck to close this case before he winds up a victim himself.
©2020 Ben Rehder (P)2021 Ben Rehder
Hog Heaven
Summary
Edgar Award-nominated author Ben Rehder's Blanco County mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream, and are currently in development with Warner Brothers and USA Network as a TV series. After a high-school football star dies in a late-night motorcycle collision with a wild pig, the boy's wealthy father comes up with a creative scheme to rid Blanco County of the feral pests: He tattoos the ear of one particular pig, then offers a $50,000 reward for anyone who shoots it. Game warden John Marlin is not pleased-chiefly because the bounty is likely to bring a wave of poachers and trespassers to the area. The tension rises even higher when the death of the local boy turns out to be more complicated than it originally appeared. Fans of Ben Rehder's earlier comic mysteries will be in heaven - Hog Heaven.
©2013 Ben Rehder (P)2013 Ben Rehder
Buck Fever
Summary
Edgar Award-nominated author Ben Rehder's Blanco County comic mysteries have made best-of-the-year lists in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, and Field & Stream. The novels have been optioned by Warner Brothers Horizon Scripted Television for development as a cable TV series. Buck Fever: It's the week before deer hunting season, as close to a statewide holiday as you get in Texas, and the locals are getting restless. Game Warden John Marlin has his hands full with poaching complaints coming in faster than he can write out-of-season tickets. Then a call of a different sort comes in. A man dressed up in some sort of deer costume has been shot at the Circle S ranch, and witnesses are reporting a massive wild-eyed buck prancing about the pasture in a lovesick frenzy. Marlin's seen a lot in his years, but this is wilder than he could have imagined: the man in the deer suit is a good friend, and the whacked-out whitetail isn't exactly a stranger either. It's the beginning of a mad, frantic weekend in Blanco County, one that will see a few more men shot, an invasion by Colombians with more than hunting on their minds, and damn near the end of Marlin's life. Ben Rehder serves it all up with a huge helping of humor in this debut comic mystery that will firmly establish him as the funniest crime writer in Texas.
©2002 Ben Rehder (P)2013 Ben Rehder
Guilt Trip
Summary
Life in rural Blanco County, Texas, isn't what most folks would call exciting - and that suits game warden John Marlin just fine. He's happy to spend his days and nights protecting the local wildlife from poachers. But when the tequila-slamming, skirt-chasing treasurer of the local Rotary Club goes missing and his vehicle is found in the river the day after a flood, Marlin finds himself in charge of the search efforts. At nearly the same time, a nearby house explodes in a shower of drug paraphernalia, and an exotic car turns up stolen from the missing man's barn. Marlin and Sheriff Bobby Garza are soon overwhelmed, trying to figure out how everything connects together. It isn't long before events begin to spiral out of control. Edgar Award-nominated author Ben Rehder keeps the plot moving and the laughs coming in another spectacularly funny crime novel straight out of the zaniest imagination in Texas.
©2005 Ben Rehder (P)2012 Ben Rehder
If I Had a Nickel
Summary
Alex Dunn owned one of the most valuable collections of hobo nickels in the world, and it appears somebody killed him for it. Now Roy Ballard and Mia Madison are hired by the insurance company to track the collection down, which means they might reveal the identity of the killer in the course of their investigation. But the more they dig, the more suspects they uncover, including Dunn's children, his ex-wife, and a buxom masseuse who takes a hands-off approach to the services she offers.
©2015 Ben Rehder (P)2016 Ben Rehder
Shake and Bake
Summary
Does Caleb Dimmick really work at his father’s motorcycle dealership, or does he simply ride the payroll, thereby giving his dad a nice tax break? Roy Ballard, a legal videographer specializing in insurance fraud, is hired to find out. After just a few days, Roy is convinced everything is legit - until a dealership employee is gunned down in his own backyard, possibly by an assassin on an orange sport bike. Now, with a large life insurance payout on the line, Roy needs to identify the killer. But the deeper Roy digs, the greater the risk grows, setting up a series of deadly confrontations that will shake him to his core.
©2019 Ben Rehder (P)2019 Ben Rehder
Gun Shy
Summary
Welcome to Ben Rehder's Blanco County, Texas, where the right to bear arms is about to go very, very wrong. In Gun Shy, the National Weapons Alliance rally in support of every American's right to bear arms is meant to garner huge publicity. And the host of the event is none other than the NWA's newest spokesman, handsome country superstar Mitch Campbell. What nobody suspects is that the Stetson-wearing, gun-toting, bull-riding Campbell is a fraud. He's really Norman Kleinschmidt, a pill-popping, snowboarding, former rock-and-roller from Vermont. To Campbell's dismay, someone from his past is about to make that secret a big, big problem. Meanwhile, when an illegal immigrant is killed in a questionable hunting accident just days before the rally, local game warden John Marlin starts to poke around. It's not long before an astonishing series of events threatens to bring down the very carefully marketed Mitch Campbell, and maybe the NWA along with him.
©2007 Ben Rehder (P)2014 Ben Rehder
Free Ride
Summary
Safari Adventure is a small but popular zoo that entertains visitors from all over Texas - until one morning when most of the animals escape and a body is found on the premises. Game warden John Marlin works closely with the sheriff’s office, at first to capture the animals, and then to solve the mystery of the missing zookeeper. But local good old boys Red O’Brien and Billy Don Craddock just might figure it all out first, after they pick up a hitchhiker with a questionable past and some inside information that makes him a prime suspect.
©2020 Ben Rehder (P)2020 Ben Rehder