''Cold in July'' is a 1989 American

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

written by Joe R. Lansdale. A feature film adaptation starring

Michael C. Hall Michael Carlyle Hall (born February 1, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Dexter Morgan, the titular character in the Showtime (TV network), Showtime series ''Dexter (TV series), Dexter'' and David Fisher (Six Feet ...

was released in 2014.

Plot summary

Richard Dane awakens to find an intruder in his home and has to kill in self-defense. The problem is the intruder's father, Ben Russel, is a murderous ex-con bent on avenging his son's death. Richard, a small-time businessman, is in way over his head. Soon the two find out they're both being misled and manipulated and find themselves drawn into a web of psychopathic sex, violence, and corruption. It turns out that the man Richard killed was not Ben's son. So the two men join forces to learn both the identity of the man Richard shot and the fate of Ben's son.

Editions

Originally this book was issued as a stand-alone novel and as a set with the first

Hap and Leonard Hap and Leonard are two fictional amateur investigators and adventurers created by American author Joe R. Lansdale. They are the main characters in a series of twelve novels, four novellas, and three collections of stories and excerpts. They are ...

novel

Savage Season ''Savage Season'' is a 1990 crime novel by American author Joe R. Lansdale. It is the first in a series of books and stories written by Lansdale featuring the characters Hap and Leonard, Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. The novel was nominated fo ...

published by Mark V. Ziesing. It has been re-issued as a paperback by

Warner Books Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

in 1995 and by Phoenix Publications in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in 1996. On May 5, 2014,

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

has reissued this novel as a movie tie-in that included a foreword by the director of the film adaptation

Jim Mickle Jim Mickle (born 1979) is an American director and writer, known for such films as ''Mulberry Street (film), Mulberry Street'', ''Stake Land'', ''We Are What We Are (2013 film), We Are What We Are'' and ''Cold in July (film), Cold in July''. He ...

Film adaptation

B Media Global fully financed the 2014 film adaption of ''Cold in July'', directed by

and with a screenplay written by Mickle and

Nick Damici Nick Damici is an American actor and screenwriter known for such films as '' Mulberry Street'' and '' Stake Land''. Early life Nick Damici grew up in Hell's Kitchen in the 1960s and early 1970s. His father was a bartender, and Damici would o ...

. Actors

and

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, ...

star, along with

Don Johnson Don Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series '' Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emm ...

and

. Filming began on July 29, 2013, in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

. ''Cold in July'' was released to positive reviews at the 2014

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, with an average rating of 7.7/10. A theatrical release will happen on May 23, 2014.

References

External links

Author's Official Website

Interview with Joe R. Lansdale

Mark Ziesing Website

Internet Movie Database

Jim Mickle at the Internet Movie Database
{{Joe R. Lansdale Novels by Joe R. Lansdale American mystery novels Novels set in Texas 1989 American novels American novels adapted into films Southern noir novels