Murder in the Middle Pasture
Murder in the Middle Pasture is the fourth book in the Hank the Cowdog series of children's novels by John R. Erickson. It is preceded by It's a Dog's Life and followed by Faded Love.
Characters
The characters are: Hank the Cowdog, Drover, Pete the Barncat, Rip and Snort, Chief Guts, Missy Coyote, High Loper, Sally May, Slim Chance, and four dogs, one Buster, another one Muggs, the rest have not been revealed.
Plot summary
Like almost all the Hank the Cowdog books, this one begins with Hank saying, "It's me again, Hank the Cowdog.."
Hank the Cowdog finds that there has been a murder on his ranch, so he sets off to investigate. After a few adventures, Hank thinks the Coyote Brotherhood is responsible for the killing. He travels to the Coyote Brotherhood, and demands to know who the murderer is. The coyotes just laugh and hold Hank hostage, and plan to eat him by dawn; it is later revealed that the coyotes were not responsible for the murder. Hank could have easily escaped had not Chief Guts ordered Rip and Snort, two stupid coyote brothers, to make sure Hank does not run away. They keep him in a cave, guarding the exit. Then Hank escapes (with the help of Missy Coyote) to his ranch. Once gets out he runs back to the ranch to find the real murderers. Apparently the real murderers were a dog named Buster and a gang of two dogs with a pug named Muggs as his assistant. Hank says mean things to the coyotes (Scraunch, Rip and Snort) and Buster and his gang but makes them think that it was each other that was saying mean things to them. The coyotes and the gang got into a fight and the coyotes won and chased the gang off the ranch. That's where the story ends.