A former detective's search for his ex-wife leads to a cult that thinks aliens are coming to save them in The Donut Legion, a dark-humored murder mystery from Joe R. Lansdale (Moon Lake; More Better Deals). Charlie and his brother, Felix, used to run a detective agency, but Charlie left it behind. Late one night, Charlie gets a visit from his ex-wife, Meg, who asks him to investigate the murder of Ethan, her husband, and warns him to beware of omelets. Before Charlie can understand, he realizes Meg isn't really there at all.
Felix thinks Charlie had a hallucination. The landlord says Meg and Ethan paid their rent in advance and left. Felix agrees something isn't right, and it all leads to a cult of alien believers known as the Saucer People who live on a compound awaiting the arrival of a savior spaceship. The Saucer People run a string of donut shops and allow tourist visits to the compound, so the police view the cult as good for the local economy. Then an old friend of Felix's shows up to warn the brothers to back off. Charlie isn't going to back down, and Felix doesn't respond well to threats--or to the Saucer People. Plenty of hilarious insults fly between the good, the bad and the crazy, and it all leads to one outcome: mayhem.
Lansdale's solid murder mystery is filled with self-deprecating witticisms, wry observations and outright violence, but underneath all that is a bittersweet story of love and loss. New readers and diehard fans of this author should enjoy the taste of this Donut. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer