William Randolph Packard Hearse

There’s different kinds of fire...


William Randolph Packard Hearse... Dutch has his hand in at least two, maybe three kinds of fires. He’s investigating the mysterious house-fire that left Fisher Pulaski in the city morgue without a single burn on him. Then there’s the unknown man found burned to a crisp in a car on a desolate road. Nicknamed Bernie by the townspeople, word is he might have been with the mob. Then again, he might have been a cop.


Dutch is also hired to capture an escapee from an area mental hospital, a man he knows all too well. Along the way, he decides to pull into Fast Mike’s and trade his pickup truck for a Packard hearse. His friendship with Slant Face Sanders breaks down and may be irreparable, but his side hustle taxiing people around town in the hearse, christened William Randolph Packard Hearse, soon starts to pay dividends. He may be driving a glamor girl across nighttime Fort Worth, but it’s Ruthie Nell that his heart burns for. And that may prove to be the most dangerous kind of fire of them all.